FIFTEEN  YEARS 


THE  TOP-KNOT 


LIFE  I2VKO 


SENTINEL     GATE     AT     PALACE.       Front  iSp'. 


FIFTEEN  YEARS 

AMONG 

THE  TOP-KNOTS 

OR 

LIFE 

IN  KOREA 

By 

L.    H.   UN 

DERWOOD,    M.D. 

FRANK  F. 

With  Introduction 
by 
ELLINWOOD,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

3 

AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY 

150 
BOSTON 

NASSAU    STREET 

NEW    YORK         •         CHICAGO 

Copyright,  1904, 
By  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 


THIS    LITTLE   VOLUME 
IS    GRATEFULLY    DEDICATED    TO 

MY  HUSBAND 

IN   MEMORY  OF 
FIFTEEN    HAPPIEST   YEARS 


2216511 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  may  be  said  at  once,  that  Mrs.  Underwood's  narra- 
tive of  her  experience  of  "Fifteen  Years  Among  the  Top- 
Knots"  constitutes  a  book  of  no  ordinary  interest.  There 
is  no  danger  that  any  reader  having  even  a  moderate 
sympathy  with  the  work  of  missions  in  the  far  East  will 
be  disappointed  in  the  perusal.  The  writer  does  not 
undertake  to  give  a  comprehensive  account  of  missions 
in  Korea,  or  even  of  the  one  mission  which  she  represents, 
but  only  of  the  things  which  she  has  seen  and  experienced. 

There  is  something  naive  and  attractive  in  the  way  in 
which  she  takes  her  readers  into  her  confidence  while  she 
tells  her  story,  as  trustfully  as  if  she  were  only  writing 
to  a  few  relatives  and  friends.  Necessarily  she  deals  very 
largely  with  her  own  work,  and  that  of  her  husband,  as 
of  that  she  is  best  qualified  to  speak.  Everywhere,  how- 
ever, there  are  generous  and  appreciative  references  to 
the  heroic  labors  of  associate  missionaries.  Nor  does  she 
confine  these  tributes  to  members  of  her  own  mission. 
Some  of  her  highest  encomiums  are  given  to  members  of 
other  missions,  who  have  laboured  and  died  for  the  Gos- 
pel and  the  cause  of  humanity  in  Korea. 

Mrs.  Underwood,  then  Miss  Lillias  Horton,  of  Chicago, 
went  to  Korea  as  a  medical  missionary  in  1888.  As  a 
Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  accustomed  to  visit 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

our  candidates  before  appointment,  I  found  her  a  bright 
young  girl  of  slight  and  graceful  figure  in  one  of  the 
Chicago  hospitals,  where  she  was  adding  to  her  medical 
knowledge  some  practical  experience  as  a  trained  nurse. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  consciousness  of  martyrdom  in 
her  appearance,  but  quite  the  reverse,  as  with  cheerful 
countenance  and  manner  she  glided  about  in  her  white 
uniform  among  the  ward  patients.  It  was  evident  that 
she  was  looking  forward  with  high  satisfaction  to  the 
work  to  which  she  had  consecrated  her  life. 

The  story  of  her  arrival  at  Chemulpo,  of  her  first 
impressions  of  Korea,  is  best  told  in  her  own  words. 
The  first  arrival  of  a  missionary  on  the  field  is  always  a 
trying  experience.  The  squalid  appearance  of  the  low 
native  huts,  whose  huddled  groupings  Mrs.  Underwood 
compares  to  low-lying  beds  of  mushrooms,  poorly  clad 
and  dull-eyed  fishermen  and  other  peasantry,  contrasting 
so  strongly  with  the  brighter  scenes  of  one's  home  land, 
are  enough  to  fill  any  but  the  bravest  with  discouragement 
and  despair.  But  our  narrator  passed  this  trying  ordeal 
by  reflecting  that  she  was  not  a  tourist  in  pursuit  of  enter- 
tainment, but  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  sent  to  heal  the 
bodies  and  enlighten  the  souls  of  the  lowly  and  the  suf- 
fering. 

As  a  young  unmarried  woman  and  quite  alone,  she 
found  a  welcoming  home  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Heron,  and 
began  at  once  a  twofold  work  of  mastering  the  language, 
and  of  professional  service  at  the  hospital.  Not  long  after 
her  arrival  she  was  called  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  queen,  who 
wished  to  secure  her  services  as  her  physician.  The 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

relation  soon  grew  into  a  mutual  friendship,  and  Mrs. 
Underwood  from  that  time  till  the  assassination  of  the 
unfortunate  queen  was  her  frequent  visitor,  and  in  many 
respects  her  personal  admirer.  She  does  not  hesitate  to 
express  her  appreciation  of  the  queen,  as  a  woman  of 
kind-hearted  and  generous  impulses,  high  intellectual 
capacity,  and  no  ordinary  diplomatic  ability.  Of  stronger 
mind  and  higher  moral  character  than  her  royal  husband, 
she  was  his  wise  counsellor  and  the  chief  bulwark  of  his 
precarious  power. 

Though  Mrs.  Underwood's  book  is  of  the  nature  of  a 
narrative,  yet  its  smoothly  running  current  is  laden  with 
all  kinds  of  general  information  respecting  the  character 
and  customs  of  the  people,  the  condition  of  the  country, 
the  native  beliefs  and  superstitions,  the  social  degradation, 
the  poverty  and  widespread  ignorance  of  the  masses. 
The  account  of  missionary  work  is  given  naturally,  its 
pros  and  cons  set  forth  without  special  laudation  on  the 
one  hand,  or  critical  misgiving  on  the  other.  It  is  simply 
presented,  and  left  to  speak  for  itself,  and  it  can  scarcely 
fail  to  carry  to  all  minds  a  conviction  of  the  genuineness 
and  marked  success  of  the  great  work  which  our  mis- 
sionaries in  Korea  are  conducting. 

Mrs.  Underwood's  marriage  to  Rev.  H.  G.  Underwood, 
who  had  already  been  four  years  in  the  country,  is  related 
with  simplicity  and  good  sense,  and  the  remarkable  bridal 
tour,  though  given  more  at  length,  is  really  a  story  not  of 
honeymoon  experiences,  but  rather  of  arduous  and  heroic 
missionary  itineration.  It  was  contrary  to  the  advice 
and  against  the  strong  remonstrances  of  their  associates 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

and  their  friends  in  the  U.  S.  legation  that  the  young 
couple  set  out  in  the  early  spring  of  1889  for  a  pioneering 
tour  through  Northern  Korea. 

Fortunately  for  the  whole  work  of  our  Protestant  mis- 
sions, the  most  favorable  impression  had  been  made  upon 
the  Korean  Court  and  upon  the  people  by  the  striking  and 
most  valuable  service  which  had  been  rendered  by  Dr.  H. 
N.  Allen,  our  first  medical  missionary,  and  now  U.  S. 
Minister  in  Korea.  He  had  healed  the  wounds  of  some 
distinguished  Koreans,  who  had  been  nearly  killed  in  a 
midnight  conflict  between  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  garri- 
sons at  Seoul. 

Although  there  were  strong  prohibitory  decrees  against 
the  admission  of  foreigners  in  the  interior,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Underwood  ventured  to  presume  upon  the  connivance  of 
the  officials  at  their  proposed  journey  to  the  far  north. 
Traveling  as  missionaries  and  without  disguise,  it  was  a 
plucky  undertaking  for  the  young  bride,  since,  so  far  as 
known,  she  was  the  first  foreign  woman  who  had  made 
such  a  tour.  The  journey  was  a  protracted  one  and 
involved  all  kinds  of  hardship  and  privation.  Nothing 
worthy  of  a  name  of  inn  was  to  be  found,  but  only  some 
larger  huts  in  which  travelers  were  packed  away  amid 
every  variety  of  filth  and  vermin. 

The  curiosity  of  the  people  to  see  a  foreign  woman 
was  such  that  the  mob  everywhere  scrupled  not  to  punch 
holes  through  the  paper  windows  and  doors  to  get  a 
peep.  After  having  been  borne  all  day  in  a  chair,  not 
over  roads,  but  through  tortuous  bridle  paths,  over 
rocks  and  through  sloughs,  it  was  found  well-nigh  im- 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

possible  to  rest  at  night.  '  All  sorts  of  noises  early  and 
late  added  to  their  discomfort.  As  to  food,  the  difficulty 
of  subsisting  on  such  fare  as  the  people  could  furnish  may 
be  well  imagined.  They  were  not  wholly  free  from  the 
fear  of  wild  animals,  for  some  districts  through  which 
they  passed  were  infested  by  tigers  and  leopards.  But 
their  greatest  danger  was  that  of  falling  into  the  hands 
of  roaming  bands  of  robbers.  Mrs.  Underwood's  account 
of  one  experience  of  this  kind  will  be  read  with  thrilling 
interest. 

Fortunately,  Mr.  Underwood  had  already  made  one  or 
two  shorter  tours  through  the  country  alone,  and  had 
baptized  a  few  converts  here  and  there.  The  passports 
also  which  he  carried  with  him  secured  the  favor  of  some 
of  the  district  magistrates,  so  that  the  two  were  not 
exposed  wholly  to  hostile  influences. 

It  is  impossible  in  few  words  to  do  justice  to  the  story 
related  in  this  interesting  book,  which  was  prepared  by 
Mrs.  Underwood  at  the  request  of  the  American  Tract 
Society,  or  do  anything  more  than  commend  in  general 
terms  its  various  presentations.  One  of  these  relating 
to  the  experiences  of  a  severe  cholera  season,  during 
which  missionaries,  not  only  medical  but  also  clerical, 
remained  faithfully  at  their  posts,  unmindful  of  the  per- 
sonal risks  and  of  the  heat,  filth  and  discomfort  of  an 
unsanitary  city  in  the  most  sickly  months,  in  order  to  do 
all  in  their  power  to  save  the  lives  and  mitigate  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor  and  despairing  people.  The 
account  is  given  with  great  simplicity,  and  without  osten- 
tatious claims  of  heroism,  and  may  be  regarded  as  a  true 


x  INTRODUCTION 

representation  of  the  faithful  service  often  rendered  by 
our  missionaries  in  times  of  trial  and  great  suffering. 

Mrs.  Underwood's  book  will  be  read  with  peculiar 
interest  at  this  time,  when  all  attention  is  turned  to  the  far 
East  and  especially  to  Korea,  which  seems  likely  to  be  the 
battleground  in  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan.  The 
position  of  the  poor  Koreans,  government  and  people,  is 
calculated  to  elicit  the  sympathy  of  all  Christians  and  all 
philanthropists.  Every  one  wonders  what  will  be  the 
outcome  for  poor  Korea.  It  is  indeed  a  time  for 
earnest  prayer  that  the  God  of  nations  will  overrule  all 
current  events  for  the  best  good  of  this  belligerent  people 
and  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's  Kingdom. 

F.  F.  ELLIN  WOOD. 
NEW  YORK,  Feb.  20,  1904. 


PREFACE 

THE  chapters  which  are  here  given  to  the  public  are 
simply  reminiscent,  a  brief  story  of  a  few  years  of  the 
writer's  life  in  one  of  the  most  unique  and  interesting  of 
all  the  Eastern  countries,  among  a  people  who  are  singu- 
larly winning  and  lovable. 

I  beg  that  in  reading  these  pages  it  may  be  remembered 
that  this  book  makes  no  pretense  whatever  to  being  a  text 
or  reference  book  on  Korea,  or  in  any  respect  a  history  of 
Korean  missions.  The  writer  has  simply  strung  together 
a  few  events  which  have  fallen  under  her  own  personal 
observation  during  the  last  fifteen  years.  If  more  fre- 
quent reference  is  made  to  the  work  carried  on  by  my 
husband  and  myself  than  to  others,  it  is  simply  because  it 
is  only  with  regard  to  that  which  has  been  woven  into  the 
web  of  my  own  experience  that  I  can  speak  with  exactness 
and  authority.  All  it  is  hoped  to  accomplish  is,  that  suffi- 
cient insight  into  the  customs  and  character  of  the  people, 
and  their  moral  and  political  atmosphere,  with  the  results, 
opportunities  and  possible  limitations  of  mission  work, 
may  be  given  to  induce  the  reader  to  study  further,  and 
perchance  to  question  what  his  relation  to  it  all  is. 

I  must  acknowledge  my  great  indebtedness  to  Dr. 
H.  N.  Allen's  chronological  index,  by  which  I  have  been 
able  to  verify  many  dates. 


xii  PREFACE 

I  am  also  indebted  to  the  "Korean  Repository,"  and  to 
the  "Life  of  Dr.  James  Hall,"  for  part  of  the  story  of  the 
events  connected  with  his  work  in  Pyeng  Yang,  both  be- 
fore and  after  the  war,  and  for  the  official  report  of  the 
trial  of  the  queen's  murderers  at  Hiroshima.  More  than 
all,  I  am  obliged  to  my  husband,  by  whose  assistance  I 
have  obtained  from  Koreans  the  particulars  relating  to  the 
Emeute  of  1884,  the  Tonghaks,  the  Pusaings,  the  Inde- 
pendents, and  the  Romanists.  He  has  also  given  me  many 
of  the  anecdotes  of  native  Christian  life,  and  as  we  lived 
it  all  out  ourselves,  this  volume  is  as  much  his  as  mine. 

LILLIAS  H.  UNDERWOOD. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 

PACK 

First  Arrival — First  Impressions — The  City  of  Seoul 
— Korean  Houses — Mission  Homes — Personnel  of  Mission 
in  1888 — Beginnings  of  Work — Difficulties  in  Attaining  the 
Language — Korean  Religions — Palace  Women — First  Inter- 
view with  Palace  Women — Entertainment  Given  in  my 
Honor  by  President  of  Foreign  Office — The  Interdict — Con- 
fidence Exhibited  by  Government  in  Protestant  Missionaries 
— The  "Baby  Riots" — Babies  Reported  to  Have  Been  Eaten 
at  Foreign  Legations — Restoring  Confidence — The  Signal — 
First  Invitation  to  Palace I 

CHAPTER    II 

The  Palaces— The  Stone  Dogs— The  Fire  God's  Defeat— 
The  Summer  Pleasure  House — Royal  Reception  Hall — 
Court  Dress  of  Noblemen — First  Impression  of  the  King — 
Appearance  of  the  Queen — The  Queen's  Troubles — The 
Queen's  Coup  d'fitat — The  Verb  Endings — The  Queen's 
Generosity — Stone  Fight — Gifts — The  Quaga — Poukhan — 
Its  Impregnability — Picturesque  Surroundings  of  Seoul — 
Pioneer  Work — Progress  of  Work — The  Queen's  Wedding 
Gift — Our  Wedding — Opposition  to  my  Going  to  the  Interior 
— My  Chair — The  Chair  Coolies 20 

CHAPTER   III 

We  Start  on  our  Wedding  Journey — Songdo — Guards  at 
our  Gates — Crossing  the  Tai-tong — Difficulties  in  Finding  an 
Inn — Korean  Launderings — An  Old  Man  Seeks  to  be  Rid  of 
Sin — Mob  at  an  Inn — A  Ruffian  Bursts  Open  my  Door — 
Fight  in  the  Inn  Yard — Pat  Defies  the  Crowd — Convenience 
of  Top-Knots — A  Magistrate  Refuses  to  Shelter  Us — The 
"Captain"  to  the  Rescue — Pack-ponies — We  Lay  a  Deep 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Scheme — Torch  Bearers — A  Mountain  Hamlet — Tiger 
Traps — Tigers — A  Band  of  Thirty  Conspire  to  Attack  us — 
.Guns  Used  by  Native  Hunters — A  Tiger  Story  .  .38 

CHAPTER    IV 

Leaving  Kangai — We  Choose  a  Short  Cut — Much  Goitre 
in  the  Mountains — A  Deserted  Village — The  Jericho  Road — 
We  are  Attacked  by  Robbers — A  Struggle  in  the  Inn  Yard 
— Odds  too  Great — Our  Attendants  are  Seized  and  Carried 
Off — The  Kind  Inn-Keeper — Inopportune  Patients — A  Race 
for  Life — A  City  of  Refuge — A  Beautiful  Custom — Safe  at 
Last — The  Magistrate  Turns  Out  to  be  an  Old  Friend — The 
Charge  to  the  Hunters 60 

CHAPTER    V 

Our  Stay  in  Wewon — We  Give  a  Dinner — Our  Guests — 
Magistrates  Propose  that  we  Travel  with  a  Chain-Gang — 
Our  Trip  Down  the  Yalu — The  Rapids — Contrast  Between 
Korean  and  Chinese  Shores — We  Enter  Weju — The  Drunken 
Magistrate — Presents  and  Punishments — Unpleasant  Expe- 
riences with  Insincere  People — Rice  Christians — The  Schem- 
ing Colporter — The  Men  Baptized  in  Weju — The  Lost  Pass- 
port— Another  Audience  at  the  Palace — Queen's  Dress  and 
Ornaments — Korean  Summer  House — The  Pocket  Dictionary 
— Our  Homes 77 

CHAPTER   VI 

An  Audience  at  the  Palace — Dancing  Girls — Entertain- 
ment Given  after  the  Audience — Printing  the  Dictionary  and 
Grammar — A  Korean  in  Japan — Fasting  to  Feast — Death  of 
Mr.  Davies — Dr.  Heron's  Sickness — Mrs.  Heron's  Midnight 
Ride — Dr.  Heron's  Death — Difficulty  in  Getting  a  Cemetery 
Concession — Forced  Return  to  America — Compensations — 
Chemulpo  in  Summer — The  "Term  Question"  in  China, 
Korea  and  Japan — Difficulties  in  the  Work  .  .  .  -93 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Mission  in  1893 — "The  Shelter" — Opening  of  Japanese 
War — Seoul  Populace  Panic  Stricken — Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  in 
Pyeng  Yang — Heroic  Conduct  of  Native  Christians — Condi- 
tion of  Pyeng  Yang  after  the  War— Dr.  Hall's  Death— 


CONTENTS  xv 

PAGE 

Preaching  the  Gospel  at  the  Palace — The  Queen  Seeks  to 
Strengthen  Friendly  Relations  with  Europeans — Her 
Majesty's  Generosity — A  Little  Child  at  the  Palace — The 
Slaves  of  the  Ring — A  Christmas  Tree  at  the  Palace — The 
Queen's  Beneficent  Plans — The  Post-office  Emeute  of  1884 — 
A  Haunted  Palace — The  Murder  of  Kim  Oh  Kiun  .  .  106 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Mr.  McKenzie— The  First  Church  Built  by  Natives— Mr. 
McKenzie's  Sickness — His  Death — Warning  to  New  Mission- 
aries— The  Tonghaks — Mr.  Underwood's  Trip  to  Sorai  in 
Summer — Native  Churches — Our  Use  of  Helpers — Christians 
in  Seoul  Build  their  Own  Church — Epidemic  of  Cholera — 
Unhygienic  Practices — Unsanitary  Condition  of  City  .  .  123 

CHAPTER   IX 

Difficulty  of  Enforcing  Quarantine  Regulations — Greedy 
Officials  "Eat"  Relief  Funds — Americans  Stand  Alone  to 
Face  the  Foe — The  Emergency  Cholera  Hospital — The  In- 
spection Officers — We  Decide  to  Use  the  "Shelter" — A 
Pathetic  Case — The  Jesus  Man — Gratitude  of  the  Koreans — 
The  New  Church — The  Murder  of  the  Queen — Testimony  of 
Foreigners — The  Official  Report 136 

CHAPTER    X 

The  Palace  after  the  Murder— Panic— Attitude  of  For- 
eign Legations — The  King's  Life  in  Hourly  Danger — Noble 
Refugees — Americans  on  Guard — Mistakes  of  the  New  Gov- 
ernment— Objectionable  Sumptuary  Laws — A  Plan  to  Rescue 
the  King — One  Night  at  the  Palace — Forcing  an  Entrance — 
Our  Little  Drama — Escape  of  General  Yun  ....  153 

CHAPTER   XI 

Customs  Centering  around  the  Top-Knot — Christians 
Sacrificing  Their  Top-Knots — A  Cruel  Blow — Beginning  of 
Christian  Work  in  Koksan — A  Pathetic  Appeal — People  Bap- 
tize Themselves — Hard-Hearted  Cho — The  King's  Escape — 
People  Rally  Round  Him — Two  Americans  in  the  Interior — 
In  the  Midst  of  a  Mob — Mob  Fury — Korea  in  the  Arms  of 
Russia — Celebrating  the  King's  Birthday — Patriotic  Hymns 
— Lord's  Prayer  in  Korean  , 167 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   XII 

PAGE 

A  Korean  Christian  Starts  Work  in  Haing  Ju — Changed 
Lives  of  Believers — A  Reformed  Saloon-Keeper — The  Con- 
version of  a  Sorceres-s — Best  of  Friends — A  Pleasant  Night 
on  the  Water — Evidence  of  Christian  Living — Our  Visit  in 
Sorai — A  Korean  Woman's  Work — How  a  King  Acts  at 
Times — Applicants  for  Baptism — Two  Tonghaks — In  a  Strait 
betwixt  Two — Midnight  Alarms — Miss  Jacobson's  Death  .  183 

CHAPTER  XIII 

Our  Mission  to  Japan — Spies — One  Korean  Summer — 
The  Queen's  Funeral — The  Procession — The  Burial  by 
Starlight — The  Independents — The  Pusaings — The  Inde- 
pendents Crushed 201 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Itineration  Incidents — Kaiwha — Christian  Evidences — 
Buying  Christian  Books  instead  of  an  Office — Seed  Sowing 
— Moxa's  Boy  in  the  Well — Kugungers  Again — Pung  Chung 
— Pyeng  Yang — The  Needs  of  the  Women  ....  216 

CHAPTER   XV 

Another  Itineration — Christians  in  Eul  Yul — A  Ride  in  an 
Ox-Cart — Keeping  the  Cow  in  the  Kitchen — Ox-Carts  and 
Mountain  Roads — The  Island  of  White  Wing — A  Midnight 
Meeting — Thanksgiving  Day  in  Sorai — The  Circular  Orders 
— New  Testament  Finished — All  in  the  Day's  Work — The 
Korean  Noble — Meetings  of  the  Nobility  ....  237 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Furloughs — Chong  Dong  Church — Romanists  in  Whang 
Hai — Missionaries  to  the  Rescue — Romanists  Annoy  and 
Hinder  the  Judge — Results — Interview  between  Governor 
and  Priest — The  Inspector's  Report — Women's  Work  in  Hai 
Ju — Death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Miller — The 
End 254 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

SENTINEL  GATE  AT  PALACE Frontispiece 

CITY    OF    SEOUL 

SCHOOL     BOYS 

KOREAN    OFFICIAL    IN    CHAIR 

KOREAN    STREET 

MAIN   ENTRANCE  TO  PALACE 

KOREAN  STONE  DOG  IN  FRONT  OF  PALACE  GATES      .... 

PLEASURE    HOUSE 

HIGH    KOREAN   OFFICIAL,    KIM    YAN   SIK 

A    KOREAN    NOBLEMAN 

THE    KING    OF    KOREA 

SURROUNDINGS   OF    SEOUL 

A   STREET  CROWD 

INDEPENDENCE    ARCH 

FERRY    BOAT 

TAI-TONG    RIVER 

METHOD    OF    IRONING 

CARRIER   OX 

CANDY    BOY 

GATE  IN  THE  WALL  OF  NAM  HAN 

HOUSE  USED  BY  MISSIONARIES  ON  TOP  OF  NAM  HAN    . 

DESERTED    PALACE    

DESERTED    ROYAL    DINING    HALL 

CHURCH  AT  SORAI 

A    KOREAN    TOP-KNOT 

RUSSIAN    LEGATION    HOUSE 

PRINCE   YI    CHAI    SOON,    COUSIN   OF    KING 

CARRIERS     WITH     JIKAYS 

KOREAN    WOMEN    AT    WORK 

GIRLS  SEWING  AND  WRITING  WITH   NATIVE  TEACHER    . 

THE   OX-CART    OR    TALGOOGY 

HORSES  IN  AN  INN  YARD 


xviii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PARTY  STARTING  OUT  IN   MORNING  FROM  THATCHED  INN 

BOYS    PEDDLING 

A  BUTCHER  SHOP 

BASKET    SHOP  

ELDER  SHAW  OF  SORAI  AND   HIS  FAMILY 

MRS.   KIM  OF  SORAI  AND  HER  FAMILY    .... 

SMALL  BOY  SCRAPING  UP  REFUSE  FOR  FIRES  . 

WOMAN   WITH   BUNDLE  OF   WASHING   ON    HER   HEAD      . 

A    KOREAN    VILLAGE 

THE    ROUND    GATE,    SEOUL 


FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG 
THE    TOP-KNOTS 


CHAPTER   I 

First  Arrival — First  Impressions — The  City  of  Seoul — Korean 
Houses — Mission  Homes — Personnel  of  Mission  in  1888 — 
Beginnings  of  Work — Difficulties  in  Attaining  the  Language 
— Korean  Religions — Palace  Women — First  Interview  with 
Palace  Women — Entertainment  Given  in  my  Honor  by  Presi- 
dent of  Foreign  Office — The  Interdict — Confidence  Exhibited 
by  Government  in  Protestant  Missionaries — The  "Baby 
Riots" — Babies  Reported  to  have  been  Eaten  at  Foreign 
Legations — Restoring  Confidence — The  Signal — First  Invi- 
tation to  Palace. 

I  LANDED  in  Korea  at  the  port  of  Chemulpo  on  a  cloudy, 
windy  March  day,  in  1888.  My  eyes  fell  on  a  rocky  shore, 
back  of  which  the  bare  sharp  outline  of  low  hills,  whitened 
with  patches  of  snow,  was  relieved  by  no  trees  to  break 
the  monotony  of  the  scene.  Dreary  mud  flats,  instead  of 
a  sandy  beach,  lay  reeking  and  slimy  along  the  water's 
edge.  As  our  boat  neared  the  shore,  for  there  was  and  is 
no  pier,  and  ships  even  at  high  tide  cannot  approach  very 
near,  wild  and  strange-looking  men,  uttering  wild  and 
strange-sounding  speech,  came  hurrying  down  the  hill  to 
inspect  us. 

Their  coarse  black  hair  was  long  and  dishevelled,  in 
some  instances  braided  in  a  single  pigtail,  in  most  cases, 
however,  tied  on  top  of  the  head,  where  a  careless  attempt 
at  a  top-knot  had  been  made,  but  elf-locks  straying  round 


2          FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

the  neck  and  face  gave  a  wolfish  and  unkempt  ap- 
pearance. They  were  Mongolians  with  all  the  race 
features,  not  differing  much  from  Chinese  or  Japanese  ex- 
cept in  dress,  and  being  in  the  main  rather  taller  than  the 
latter  people.  Their  garments  appeared  to  consist  of  a 
short  loose  jacket  and  long  baggy  trousers,  of  a  dirty 
white  native  cloth.  These  garments  among  the  poorer 
classes  are  never  changed  oftener  than  twice  in  a  month. 

These  were  the  people  among  whom  I  had  come  to 
work — this  the  country  which  I  had  chosen  instead  of 
the  "groves  and  templed  hills"  of  my  own  dear  native 
land.  My  heart  swelled,  and  lifted  up  a  yearning  prayer 
that  it  might  not  be  in  vain. 

In  justice  to  the  Koreans,  however,  I  ought  to  say  here, 
that  the  people  whom  I  saw  that  morning  were  of  the 
lowest  and  roughest  class,  their  dress  the  poorest  sort, 
and  that  Chemulpo,  especially  in  March,  is  perhaps  the 
most  forbidding  and  unsightly  place  in  Korea.  Being 
the  main  port  for  the  capital,  it  is  made  up,  as  ports  often 
are,  very  largely  of  a  mixture  of  various  nationalities. 
Man)r  sailors  and  traders,  and  especially  Chinese  and 
Japanese  merchants,  have  built  their  poor  houses  and 
shops  in  the  main  town. 

The  trip  from  Chemulpo  to  Seoul,  about  twenty-eight 
miles,  was  made  the  following  day,  in  a  Sedan-chair  car- 
ried by  four  coolies.  The  road,  although  a  much  traveled 
one,  was  very  bad,  but  is  now  replaced  by  a  railroad  which 
accomplishes  the  distance  in  about  two  hours  and  a  half. 
The  country  I  found  pleasantly  rolling — comparatively 
few  trees  were  seen,  and  the  population  thereabout  seemed 
quite  sparse.  Here  and  there  were  squalid  mud  huts 
thatched  with  straw.  I  found  on  inquiry  that  this  little 
land,  lying  west  of  Japan,  attached  at  its  northern  ex- 
tremity to  China  and  Siberia,  has  an  area  of  about  ninety 


THE   CITY   OF   SEOUL  3 

thousand  square  miles  and  a  population  of  over  fourteen 
millions  of  people,  with  a  climate  varying  from  that  in  the 
north,  like  northern  New  York,  to  that  in  the  extreme 
south,  like  southern  Virginia. 

We  approached  Seoul  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  I  was  thrilled  at  the  sight  of  the  first  walled 
town  I  had  ever  beheld.  The  walls  are  very  picturesque 
— built  of  great  blocks  of  stone — hung  with  ivy,  and  give 
an  impression  of  great  age. 

At  the  time  of  my  arrival,  and  for  some  few  years  after, 
a  very  interesting  custom  was  in  vogue  with  regard  to  the 
closing  of  these  gates.  Korea  had  for  centuries  a  signal 
fire  service,  by  which  news  of  peace  or  war  was  with 
telegraphic  rapidity  conveyed  to  Seoul,  and  by  number, 
frequency  of  repetition  and  other  expedients  a  tolerably 
useful  code  had  been  established.  On  the  south  mountain, 
within  the  walls,  were  four  beacons,  one  for  each  point  of 
the  compass,  to  which  these  lines  converged.  Every  even- 
ing as  soon  as  the  sun  had  set,  when  the  bright  glow  of 
these  four  beacon  fires  published  the  fact  that  all  was  well 
in  his  majesty's  dominions,  four  officials,  whose  business 
it  was  to  report  to  the  king  the  message  of  the  fires,  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  palace,  and  with  low  obeisance, 
each  announced  that  all  was  well  in  the  north — in  the 
south — the  east — and  the  west.  On  this,  the  palace  band 
struck  up  its  gayest  airs,  and  when  this  music  was  heard, 
the  signal  was  given  for  the  tolling  of  the  great  curfew 
bell  in  the  center  of  the  city.  When  the  extremely  sweet 
and  solemn,  low  and  yet  penetrating  tones  of  this  bell  were 
heard,  the  ponderous  gates  were  swung  to  and  barred, 
not  to  be  reopened  till  the  ringing  of  the  same  bell 
at  the  first  streak  of  dawn  gave  the  signal  to  the 
keepers. 

Entering    through    these    gates,    fortunately    not    yet 


4          FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

closed,  we  saw  narrow,  filthy  streets,  flanked  by  low  mud 
houses,  either  thatched  with  straw,  or  tiled.  It  has  been 
aptly  said  that  the  city  looks  like  a  vast  bed  of  mushrooms, 
since  none  of  the  Korean  houses  are  built  more  than  one 
story  high. 

The  common  people  are  very  poor  and  their  homes 
seem  to  an  American  wretchedly  poor  and  comfortless, 
and  yet,  compared  with  the  most  destitute  of  London  or 
New  York,  there  are  few  who  go  cold  or  hungry  in  Seoul. 
Each  dwelling  is  so  arranged  that  the  part  of  the  house 
occupied  by  the  women,  which  is  called  the  anpang,  or 
inner  room,  shall  be  screened  from  sight  from  the  street 
and  from  those  entering  the  gate — for  every  house  has  at 
least  a  tiny  courtyard,  part  of  which  is  also  screened  off 
(either  by  another  wall,  or  by  mats,  or  trees  and  bushes) 
for  the  women's  use. 

Many  of  the  homes  of  the  poor  consist  of  but  one  room, 
with  a  sort  of  outer  shed,  which  is  used  as  kitchen.  Such 
a  place  often  has  no  window,  or  at  most  only  a  tiny  one, 
and  both  window  and  door  are  covered  with  white  paper 
instead  of  glass.  These  doors  are  usually  very  low  and 
narrow,  so  that  even  a  small  woman  must  stoop  to  enter, 
and  within  it  is  not  always  possible  to  stand  upright  ex- 
cept in  the  center,  where  the  roof  is  highest.  These  small 
rooms  are  easily  heated  by  means  of  a  system  of  flues 
built  under  the  floor,  which  consists  of  stone  and  mud.  A 
fire  of  brush  and  twigs  is  kindled  under  one  side  of  the 
house,  and  as  the  chimney  opens  at  the  other  side,  the 
draft  naturally  carries  smoke  and  heat  through  the  flues, 
the  floor  becomes  very  hot,  and  the  whole  room  is  quickly 
warmed.  The  fireplace  is  built  in  with  pots  for  boiling  the 
rice — so  that  a  great  advantage  is  obtained  in  the  matter 
of  economy,  the  one  fire  booth  cooks  and  warms.  Wher- 
ever it  can  be  afforded,  a  sarang,  or  men's  sitting  room, 


KOREAN.   HOUSES  5 

which  opens  directly  on  the  street  or  road,  or  upon  the 
men's  court,  is  part  of  the  establishment.  Here  any  man 
may  enter ;  male  guests  are  entertained,  and  fed,  and  here 
they  sleep.  No  men  not  members  of  the  family  or  rela- 
tives ever  enter  the  anpang. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  everything  in  connection  with 
these  houses  is  fearfully  unsanitary,  and  many  of  them  are 
filthy  and  full  of  vermin.  All  sewage  flows  out  into  the 
unspeakable  ditches  on  either  side  of  the  street.  Of  late 
years  efforts  have  been  made  to  alter  this  state  of  things, 
better  streets  have  been  laid,  and  the  open  sewers,  which 
have  existed  for  many  years,  are  sluiced  out  by  the  sum- 
mer rains,  which  are  the  salvation  of  the  city. 

It  was  a  great  and  delightful  surprise  when  suddenly, 
entering  a  gate  in  a  mud  wall,  we  left  behind  us  these 
dirty  streets  and  saw  around  us  a  lovely  lawn,  flower  beds, 
bushes  and  trees,  and  a  pretty  picturesque  mission  home. 
It  was  like  magic.  I  found  our  mission  in  possession  of 
native  houses  which  had  been  occupied  in  past  years  by 
wealthy  but  now  ruined  or  banished  noblemen.  They  had 
been  purchased  at  a  ridiculously  low  price  in  a  condition 
of  dilapidation,  repaired  at  little  expense  and  the  interiors 
more  or  less  Europeanized.  The  one  which  I  entered 
had,  with  great  good  taste,  been  left  without  other  ceiling 
than  its  quaint  and  massive  beams  and  rafters  of  black- 
ened wood,  the  walls  were  prettily  papered,  and  rugs  and 
comfortable  furniture  and  a  few  pictures  and  ornaments 
gave  a  homelike  air.  The  rooms  were  spacious,  and 
having  been  the  dwelling  of  the  rich,  they  were  not  so  low 
or  dark  as  those  I  have  just  described. 

Our  mission,  which  at  that  time  had  been  established 
about  four  years,  was  high  in  favor  with  the  government. 
Dr.  Allen  first,  and  later  Dr.  Heron,  were  the  official 
physicians  to  the  king,  who  had  established  a  government 


6         FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

hospital,  over  which  he  had  placed  them  in  charge.  Miss 
Ellers,  lately  married,  had  been  appointed  medical  ad- 
viser to  the  queen  and  had  been  placed  in  charge  of  the 
women's  department  of  the  hospital,  both  of  which  posi- 
tions she  had  resigned  after  her  marriage,  and  to  both  of 
which  I  had  been  appointed  to  succeed.  The  members  of 
the  mission  whom  I  found  were  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Heron, 
Rev.  H.  G.  Underwood  and  Mrs.  Bunker  (formerly  Miss 
Ellers).  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Allen  had  returned  to  America  on 
an  official  mission. 

Work  had  been  well  started,  the  hospital  was  daily 
crowded  with  patients,  in  addition  to  which  Dr.  Heron 
had  a  large  foreign  and  native  practice,  as  well  as  a  hos- 
pital school  for  the  instruction  of  future  drug  clerks  and 
medical  students.  Mr.  Underwood  had  established  an 
orphan  boys'  home  and  school,  had  assisted  Dr.  Allen  in 
his  clinics  till  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Heron,  and  was  at  that 
time,  in  addition  to  the  entire  care  of  the  orphanage,  teach- 
ing in  the  government  hospital  school,  which  it  was  hoped 
might  be  the  stepping  stone  to  a  medical  school.  He  was 
holding  regular  religious  services,  and  about  thirty  had 
been  baptized.  He  had  made  a  long  trip  into  the  interior, 
up  to  the  northern  borders,  selling  tracts  and  preaching 
everywhere.  Language  helps  were  in  preparation,  and  the 
Gospel  of  Mark  in  a  tentative  form  had  been  translated. 
Miss  Ellers  was  in  charge  of  women's  medical  work  up 
to  my  arrival,  and  was  high  in  favor  with  the  queen,  who 
had  bestowed  rank  upon  her,  and  many  costly  presents. 
She  had  also  begun  to  work  and  train  the  first  member  of 
the  girls'  school. 

I  found  that  help  was  much  needed  on  all  sides.  The 
day  after  my  arrival  saw  me  installed  at  the  hospital  with 
an  interpreter  at  my  side.  Here  work  usually  lasted  about 
three  hours.  My  home  was  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Heron, 


THE   LANGUAGE   STUDY  7 

who  with  warmest  kindness  had  fitted  up  a  sunny  room 
for  me.  Here  Dr.  Heron  and  I  had  a  joint  dispensary,  and 
here  I  was  besieged  at  all  hours  by  women  desiring  medi- 
cal attention.  I  soon  found  that  language  study  was  con- 
tinually interrupted  very  seriously  by  these  applicants, 
who  respected  not  times  or  seasons.  I  was  of  course  called 
upon  to  visit  patients  in  their  homes,  one  of  whom,  the 
wife  of  the  Chinese  minister  of  state,  Prince  Uan  (now  a 
very  prominent  personage  in  Chinese  matters),  must  be 
seen  every  day  with  an  amount  of  ceremony  which  took 
not  a  little  of  my  precious  time.  However,  finding  that 
others  were  being  overworked,  I  consented  to  give  two 
hours  each  day  to  teaching  the  little  orphans  arithmetic 
and  English. 

Of  course  we  made  slow  progress,  and  floundered  not  a 
little  when  the  teacher  knew  no  Korean,  and  the  pupils  no 
English.  This  institution  had  the  unqualified  favor  of  the 
king,  and  except  the  hospital  was  the  first  institution  in 
Korea  which  illustrated  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Lord. 
We  hoped  it  might  become  a  successful  school,  where 
souls  might  be  saved,  ere  they  had  been  steeped  for  years 
in  vice,  and  the  first  steps  taken  in  the  preparation  of 
evangelists  and  preachers ;  so  we  felt  it  a  privilege  to  help. 
My  first  duty  and  chief  desire  was  of  course  to  acquire  the 
language,  but  this  was  much  interrupted  by  this  other 
work.  As  we  stood  there,  such  a  little  company  among 
these  dying  millions,  we  could  not  realize  that  hours  of 
preparation  then  meant  doubled  usefulness  in  years  to 
come,  and  so  time  and  energy,  that  should  have  been  spent 
mainly  in  study,  were  poured  out  in  hospital,  dispensary 
and  schools. 

The  new  missionaries  of  these  later  days  are  put  in  a 
language  incubator  as  soon  as  they  arrive  and  kept  there 
till  they  emerge  full-fledged  linguists,  who  have  passed 


8          FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

three  searching  examinations  by  the  language  committee 
of  the  missions.  Then  we  sat  down  with  an  English- 
Chinese  dictionary  (most  scholarly  Koreans  know  a  little 
Chinese),  a  Korean-French  dictionary,  a  French  grammar 
and  a  Korean  reader  with  a  small  English  primer  on 
Korean,  the  Gospel  of  Mark  and  a  Korean  catechism  for 
text  books.  We  were  presented  to  a  Korean  gentleman 
knowing  not  one  syllable  of  English,  or  the  first  principles 
of  the  constructions  of  any  language  on  earth,  or  even 
the  parts  of  speech,  and  without  the  glimmering  of  an 
idea  as  to  the  best  methods  or  any  method  of  teaching, 
who  yet  was  called,  probably  ironically,  "a  teacher,"  from 
whom  we  were  expected  to  pump  with  all  diligence  such 
information  on  the  language  as  he  was  able  to  bestow. 
With  scanty  knowledge  of  French,  more  than  rusty  from 
long  disuse,  I  labored  and  floundered,  trying  now  this 
plan,  now  that,  with  continual  interruptions  and  discour- 
agements. 

Before  I  could  more  than  stammer  a  few  sentences  I 
was  called  upon  to  begin  religious  teaching,  so  undertook 
a  Sunday  school  service  with  the  little  boys,  using  a  cate- 
chism which  I  could  not  yet  translate,  but  (knowing  the 
sounds)  could  hear  the  boys  recite.  Soon  after  I  began 
holding  a  Bible  class  with  a  few  women,  with  the  aid  of  a 
little  native  boy  who  had  learned  English  and  a  former 
sorceress  who  could  read  the  Chinese  Scriptures.  This 
woman  would  read  the  chapter,  we  all  united  in  the  Lord's 
prayer  and  in  singing  the  few  hymns  then  translated,  and 
I  talked  to  the  women  through  the  medium  of  my  little 
interpreter.  I  struggled  and  stumbled.  The  women  were 
patient  and  polite,  but  to  our  Father  it  must  have  looked 
the  spoiled  tangled  patchwork  of  the  child  who  wished  to 
help,  with  ignorant,  untaught  hands,  and  made  a  loving 
botch  of  it  all. 


KOREAN   RELIGIONS  9 

Perhaps  right  here  a  few  words  about  the  Korean  re- 
ligions may  be  in  place.  Confucianism,  Buddhism  and 
Taouism  all  hold  a  sort  of  sway  over  the  natives,  and  yet 
all  have  lost,  to  a  great  extent,  the  influence  they  once  had. 
The  majority  have  very  little  faith  in  any  religion.  Con- 
fucianism, otherwise  a  mere  philosophical  system  of 
morals,  has  the  strongest  hold  upon  the  people  in  the  laws 
it  enjoins  for  ancestor  worship.  This  custom,  enforced 
by  the  strongest  and  most  widespread  superstitions  in  the 
minds  of  the  Koreans,  binds  them  with  fetters  stronger 
than  iron.  If  ancestors  are  not  worshiped  with  most 
punctilious  regard  to  every  smallest  detail  of  the  law, 
dire  calamities  will  befall,  from  the  wrath  of  irate  and 
neglected  spirits.  The  servitude  thus  compelled  is  hard 
and  wearisome,  but  not  one  jot  or  tittle  must  be  omitted, 
and  woe  to  the  wretch  who,  embracing  another  doctrine, 
fails  to  perform  these  rites.  He  or  she  is  looked  upon  as 
more  than  a  traitor  to  home  and  friends,  false  to  the  most 
sacred  obligations.  Buddhism  has  fallen  low,  until  very 
lately  its  priests  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  capital,  and 
they  rank  next  to  the  slayer  of  cattle,  the  lowest  in  the 
land. 

A  few  Buddhist  temples  are  maintained  at  government 
expense  or  by  endowment,  and  women  and  children,  and 
all  the  more  ignorant,  still  worship  and  believe,  to  some 
extent.  The  same  classes  also  worship  and  fear  an  infi- 
nite number  of  all  sorts  of  evil  deities — gods  or  demons, 
who  infest  earth,  air  and  sea,  gods  of  various  diseases,  and 
all  trades;  these  in  common  with  Satan  himself  must  be 
propitiated  with  prayers  and  sacrifices,  beating  of  drums, 
ringing  of  bells  and  other  ceremonials  too  numerous  to 
mention. 

Over  all  other  objects  of  worship,  they  believe,  is  the 
great  Heavens,  the  personification  of  the  visible  heavens, 


io        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

who,  as  nearly  as  1  can  discover,  is  identical  with  the 
Baal  referred  to  in  the  Old  Testament;  but  everywhere 
their  faith  waxes  more  and  more  feeble  in  these  old  worn- 
out  superstitions.  In  many  cases  only  respect  for  ancient 
customs  and  public  opinion  keeps  them  even  in  appear- 
ance to  the  outward  forms  of  worship.  They  are  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  lost  in  the  wilderness,  "faint  and 
hungry,  and  ready  to  die,"  and  so  when  the  gospel  comes, 
it  finds  many  weary  souls,  ready  to  take  Christ's  yoke 
upon  them  and  find  his  rest. 

And  yet  how  hopeless  looked  the  task  we  had  before  us 
in  those  days,  a  little  company  of  scarce  a  dozen  people, 
including  our  Methodist  brethren,  many  of  us  able  to 
stammer  only  a  few  words  of  the  language  as  yet,  at- 
tempting to  introduce  Christianity  into  a  nation  of  four- 
teen or  more  millions  of  people,  in  the  place  of  their  long 
established  religions ;  and  beginning  with  a  few  poor 
farmers  and  old  women.  But  the  elements  of  success,  the 
certainty  of  victory,  lay  in  the  divine  nature  of  the  re- 
ligion, and  in  the  Almighty  God  who  sent  us  with  it. 
This  knowledge  inspired  us  and  this  alone. 

A  few  days  after  my  arrival  in  Seoul  a  messenger  came 
from  the  queen,  to  bid  me  welcome,  and  inquire  if  I  had 
had  a  pleasant  journey,  and  shortly  after  Mrs.  Heron 
asked  some  of  the  queen's  attendants  to  meet  me  at 
luncheon.  These  women  are  not,  as  in  other  courts,  ladies 
of  high  rank,  for  such  could  never,  under  Korean  cus- 
toms, endure  the  publicity  of  the  palace,  but  are  taken 
as  children  and  young  girls  from  the  middle  and  lower 
classes,  and  entirely  separated  from  all  others,  to  the 
service  of  the  majesties.  They  usually  hold  no  rank,  and 
are  treated  with  respect,  only  on  account  of  their  relations 
to  the  royal  family.  They  wear  on  all  state  occasions  im- 
mense quantities  of  false  hair,  which  gives  them  a  pecu- 


THE    PALACE   WOMEN  II 

liarly  grotesque  appearance ;  are  much  powdered  and  per- 
fumed, with  pencilled  and  shaven  eyebrows ;  wear  long 
flowing  silken  robes,  gilded  ornaments  in  their  hair  and  at 
their  waists;  and  present  the  sad  spectacle  of  women 
whose  very  decorations  seem  only  to  add  to  and  empha- 
size their  painful  uncomeliness. 

Korean  women  as  a  rule  are  not  beautiful.  I,  who  love 
them  as  much  as  any  one  ever  did,  who  look  upon  them  as 
my  own  sisters,  must  confess  this.  Sorrow,  hopelessness, 
hard  labor,  sickness,  lovelessness,  ignorance,  often,  too 
often,  shame,  have  dulled  their  eyes,  and  hardened  and 
scarred  their  faces,  so  that  one  looks  in  vain  for  a  sem- 
blance of  beauty  among  women  over  twenty-five  years  of 
age.  Among  the  little  maids  and  young  wives  (saixies), 
who  do  not  yet  show  the  effects  of  the  heavy  hand  of  care 
and  toil,  one  often  finds  a  sweet  bright  gentle  face  that  is 
pretty,  winning,  and  very  rarely  even  beautiful.  But 
these  poor  palace  women  come  not  under  that  class ;  hard- 
ened, coarse  and  vulgar,  their  appearance  only  calls  forth 
compassion.  I  found  to  my  surprise  that  they  were  all 
smokers,  and  they  were  equally  surprised  that  I  would  not 
accept  their  invitation  to  join  them  in  this  indulgence. 
They  examined  my  dress  and  belongings  with  childish 
curiosity,  and  deluged  me  with  questions  as  to  my  age, 
why  I  had  never  married,  whether  I  had  children,  and 
why  not,  and  other  things  equally  impertinent  and  hard  to 
answer ;  but  were  after  all  good  natured,  friendly  and  well 
meaning. 

This  was  my  first  introduction  to  Korean  officialdom, 
and  following  this  within  a  very  short  time  came  another, 
in  the  form  of  a  luncheon  and  acrobatic  entertainment 
given  for  me  by  the  President  of  the  Foreign  Office,  Kim 
Yun  Sik.  This  invitation  came  for  the  following  Sunday 
— and  troubled  me,  because  I  was  afraid  the  official  (who 


12        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

was  quite  ignorant  of  our  customs  and  was  offering  me  a 
flattering  evidence  of  courtesy  and  good  will)  would  be 
hurt  by  my  refusal  to  accept  an  invitation  for  that  day, 
and  would  very  likely  misunderstand  it.  However,  there 
was  nothing  else  to  be  done,  and  with  suitable  explana- 
tions, I  announced  my  extreme  regret  at  being  obliged  to 
refuse  his  kindness. 

With  great  good  feeling,  he  then  changed  the  day,  and 
I  was  given  carte  blanche  to  invite  my  friends,  and  of 
course  asked  the  ladies  of  the  Methodist  mission,  as  well 
as  our  own.  Several  Korean  gentlemen  of  high  rank,  in- 
cluding those  in  connection  with  the  hospital,  and  others, 
had  also  been  invited  by  my  host.  The  table,  for  in  defer- 
ence to  our  foreign  custom,  one  long  table,  instead  of  a 
number  of  small  ones,  had  been  arranged — was  piled  high 
with  Korean  dainties.  Chicken,  pheasant  and  other  cold 
meats,  fish,  eggs,  nuts  and  fruits  prepared  in  many  fanci- 
ful ways,  Chinese  preserved  fruits  and  candies,  a  gutta- 
percha-like  delicacy  called  "dock,"  made  of  rice  and  oil 
pounded  well  together,  an  alcoholic  native  beverage  called 
siil,  and  champagne  and  cigars.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
we  Americans  did  not  partake  of  these  latter  additions  to 
the  menu.  A  vast  crowd  from  the  streets  poured  into  the 
large  courtyard,  to  see  the  acrobats,  who  were  a  strolling 
band  hired  for  the  occasion.  Their  performance  consisted 
chiefly  in  tight-rope  walking  and  tumbling,  and  was  in  no 
way  remarkable.  It  lasted,  however,  nearly  three  hours, 
during  all  of  which  time  we  listened  to  the  monotonous 
whining  of  the  Korean  band,  more  like  a  Scotch  bagpipe 
(dear  cousins,  forgive)  than  anything  else  I  know  of;  and 
learned  the  Korean  verb  "anchera"  (sit  down),  which  I 
heard  that  day  repeated  a  thousand  times,  in  all  its  moods, 
tenses  and  case  endings,  in  tones  of  exasperation  to  the 
irrepressible  Korean  boy,  who  ivould  stand  up  to  see,  just 


THE    INTERDICT  13 

for  all  the  world  like  some  boys  of  whiter  skin,  nearer 
home. 

Just  before  this,  Mr.  Underwood  and  Mr.  Appenzeller 
had  started  on  a  long  itinerating  trip  toward  the  north, 
the  second  Mr.  Underwood  had  undertaken.  While  they 
were  absent  the  wrath  of  the  Korean  king  and  cabinet 
against  the  Romanists  reached  the  boiling  point,  and  cul- 
minated in  a  decree  forbidding  the  further  teaching  of 
foreign  religions  in  the  ports.  The  country  was  not  open 
to  us  (as  it  is  not  to-day,  except  by  special  passports). 
The  Romanists,  with  their  well-known  love  of  chief  seats 
and  high  places,  failing  to  profit  by  their  former  experi- 
ences of  trouble  from  similar  causes  in  China,  insisted 
upon  choosing  as  the  site  for  their  future  cathedral  one  of 
the  highest  points  in  the  city,  overlooking  the  palace,  and 
adjoining  the  temple  holding  royal  ancestral  tablets.  The 
property  had  been  obtained  unknown  to  the  king, 
through  the  medium  of  Korean  agents,  and  though  he 
used  his  utmost  endeavors,  both  with  the  priests  and  with 
the  French  legation,  to  induce  them  to  change  this  for 
any  other  site,  they  remained  obdurate,  utterly  refused  to 
yield,  and  proceeded  to  lay  the  foundation  of  their  church. 
The  decree  immediately  followed,  and  the  American  min- 
ister advised,  nay  ordered,  us  to  recall  our  missionaries, 
who  most  unwillingly  returned.  There  were,  indeed, 
those  who  asserted  that  this  early  attempt  to  carry  the 
Gospel  into  the  interior  had  been,  at  least  in  part,  the  cause 
of  the  obnoxious  decree,  which  made  it  look  as  if  our 
work  was,  for  a  time  at  least,  at  an  end.  That  this  was 
not  so  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Underwood  had 
hardly  returned  ere  he  was  waited  upon  by  a  committee 
consisting  of  high  Korean  nobles  and  members  of  the 
cabinet,  offering  him  the  entire  charge  of  their  govern- 
ment school,  with  a  generous  salary,  and  with  the  full 


14        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

understanding  that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  teach  Chris- 
tianity to  the  pupils. 

This  offer,  displaying  the  great  confidence,  instead  of 
the  displeasure  and  suspicion  which  foreigners  assured  us 
was  the  feeling  of  the  Koreans  toward  our  evangelistic 
workers,  was  taken  into  serious  consideration,  but  was 
finally  refused  on  account  of  its  interference  with  other 
work,  and  for  other  reasons  equally  important. 

It  remained  to  us  all  to  decide  upon  our  course  of  con- 
duct with  regard  to  the  prohibitory  decree.  Some  of  our 
number — the  majority — argued,  that  as  it  was  the  law  of 
the  land,  nothing  remained  for  Christian  law-abiding  peo- 
ple but  to  obey  it,  to  stop  holding  even  morning  prayers  in 
our  schools,  to  hold  no  religious  services  with  Koreans, 
but  to  wait  and  pray,  until  God  should  move  the  king's 
heart,  and  have  the  decree  rescinded.  By  this  course  they 
believed  we  should  win  favor  with  the  authorities,  while 
defiance  or  disobedience  might  cause  our  whole  mission  to 
be  expelled  from  the  country. 

A  small  minority,  however,  Mr.  Appenzeller,  now  with 
the  Lord,  his  wife,  Mr.  Underwood  and  myself,  held  that 
the  decree  had  never  been  issued  against  us  or  our  work, 
and  that  even  if  it  had,  we  were  under  higher  orders  than 
that  of  a  Korean  king.  Our  duty  was  to  preach  and  take 
the  consequences,  resting  for  authority  on  the  word  of 
God,  spoken  through  Peter,  in  Acts,  4:19,  to  the  rulers 
who  forbade  the  apostles  to  preach,  "Whether  it  be  right 
in  the  sight  of  God,  to  hearken  unto  you,  more  than  unto 
God,  fudge  ye,  for  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which 
we  have  seen  and  heafd."  Others  might  stop,  as  they  did, 
with  sorrow,  conscientiously  believing  that  to  be  the  best 
course;  we  continued  to  teach  and  preach,  in  public  and 
private,  singing  hymns,  which  could  be  heard  far  and 
near,  in  the  little  meeting-house.  No  attempt  was  ever 


THE   BABY    RIOTS  15 

made  in  any  way  to  hinder  us.  Christians  and  other  at- 
tendants on  services  came  and  went  unmolested.  Chris- 
tianity has  grown  much  since  then,  and  is  acknowledged 
as  a  factor  in  the  politics  of  more  than  one  province.  No 
one  ever  thinks  now  of  disguising  or  in  any  way  conceal- 
ing our  work,  yet  that  law  has  never  to  this  'day  been  re- 
scinded. This  is  exactly  in  accord  with  Eastern  customs. 
Laws  become  a  dead  letter,  and  pass  into  disuse ;  they  are 
not  often  annulled. 

Another  event  of  interest,  which  occurred  during  these 
first  months  after  my  arrival  in  Korea,  was  the  excitement 
culminating  in  what  were  called  "the  baby  riots." 
Similar  troubles  in  Tientsin,  China,  had  some  years  pre- 
viously resulted  in  the  massacre  of  a  number  of  foreign- 
ers, including  Jesuit  priests,  nuns  and  two  or  three  French 
officials. 

Some  person  or  persons,  with  malicious  intent,  started  a 
rumor  which  spread  like  wild-fire,  that  foreigners  were 
paying  wicked  Koreans  to  steal  native  children,  in  order 
to  cut  out  their  hearts  and  eyes,  to  be  used  for  medicine. 
This  crime  was  imputed  chiefly  to  the  Japanese,  and  it  was 
supposed  the  story  had  been  originated  by  Chinese  or 
others  especially  inimical  to  the  large  numbers  of  Japanese 
residents  in  the  capital.  Mr.  Underwood  acquainted  the 
Japanese  minister  with  the  rumors,  in  order  that  he  might 
protect  himself  and  his  people ;  which  he  promptly  did  by 
issuing,  and  causing  to  be  issued  by  the  government,  proc- 
lamations entirely  clearing  his  countrymen  of  all  blame  in 
the  matter,  which  it  was  left  to  be  understood  was 
an  acknowledged  fact,  and  consequently  the  work  of  other 
"vile  foreigners,"  namely,  ourselves  and  the  Europeans. 
The  excitement  and  fury  grew  hourly.  Large  crowds  of 
angry  people  congregated,  scowling,  muttering,  and 
threatening.  Koreans  carrying  their  own  children  were 


16        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

attacked,  beaten,  and  even  killed,  on  the  supposition  that 
they  were  kidnapping  the  children  of  others ;  and  a  high 
Korean  official,  who  tried  to  protect  one  of  these  men,  was 
pulled  from  his  chair,  and  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life, 
although  he  was  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  retainers  and 
servants.  It  was  considered  unsafe  for  foreigners  to  be 
seen  in  the  street.  Marines  were  called  up  from  Chemul- 
po to  guard  the  different  legations,  and  some  Americans 
even  packed  away  their  most  necessary  clothing  and  valu- 
ables, preparatory  to  fleeing  to  the  port.  The  wildest 
stories  were  told.  Babies,  it  was  said,  had  been  eaten  at 
the  German,  English,  and  American  legations,  and  the 
hospital,  of  course,  was  considered  by  all  the  headquarters 
of  this  bloodthirsty  work,  for  there,  where  medicine  was 
manufactured  and  diseases  treated,  the  babies  must 
certainly  be  butchered. 

One  day,  when  returning  from  my  clinic,  my  chair  was 
surrounded  by  rough-looking  men,  who  told  my  bearers 
that  they  should  all  be  killed  if  they  carried  me  to  the 
hospital  again ;  and  such  was  the  terror  inspired,  that  these 
men  positively  refused  to  take  me  thither  the  following 
day.  So  I  rode  on  horseback  through  the  city  to  the  hos- 
pital, Mr.  Underwood,  who  also  had  duties  at  the  hospital 
school,  acting  as  my  escort.  We  went  and  returned  quite 
unmolested,  and  it  has  been  my  experience  then  and  later, 
that  a  bold  front  and  appearance  of  fearlessness  and  un- 
concern in  moments  of  danger  impress  Asiatics,  and  act 
as  a  great  safeguard  for  the  foreigner. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  the  European  foreign  rep- 
resentatives had  awakened  to  the  fact  that  a  very  real 
danger  threatened  our  little  community,  and  might  ripen 
at  any  moment  into  destruction.  Proclamations  from  the 
Foreign  Office  were  posted  everywhere,  but  the  earliest  of 
these  were  mistakenly  worded,  leaving  the  impression 


RESTORING   CONFIDENCE  17 

still  that  possibly  some  "vile  foreigner"  had  instituted 
these  awful  deeds,  and  that  should  he  be  discovered  sore 
punishment  would  follow.  At  last,  however,  a  notice  ap- 
peared, written  at  the  dictation  of  these  same  "vile  for- 
eigners," in  which  it  was  positively  stated  that  not  only 
had  no  such  thing  been  done  by  any  foreigners,  but  that 
should  any  one  be  caught  uttering  these  slanders,  he 
would  be  at  once  arrested,  and  unless  able  to  prove  the 
truth  of  his  tales,  be  punished  with  death.  Detectives  and 
police  officers  were  scattered  everywhere  through  the  city, 
people  were  forbidden  to  stand  in  groups  of  twos  and 
threes,  a  few  arrests  were  made,  and  the  riots  were  at 
an  end. 

Before  calm  was  restored,  however,  we  had  some  un- 
certain, not  to  say  uneasy,  hours.  On  the  evening  of  the 
day  when  the  excitement  had  been  at  its  highest,  we  re- 
ceived word  from  the  American  legation  that  should  there 
be  evidence  that  the  mob  were  intending  to  attack  our 
homes,  a  gun  would  be  fired  in  the  legation  grounds  as  a 
signal,  and  we  were  then  to  hasten  thither  for  mutual 
safety  and  defense. 

It  was  a  calm  starlit  July  night.  We  sat  in  the  little 
porch  leading  into  our  compound,  enjoying  the  cool  even- 
ing air,  when  suddenly  a  terrific  illumination  of  blazing 
buildings  lit  up  the  horizon,  and  a  fearful  hubbub  of  a 
shouting,  yelling  mob  assailed  our  ears.  With  beating 
hearts  we  watched  and  listened.  Some  one  said  Korean 
mobs  always  began  by  burning  houses,  and  while  we 
waited,  wondering  what  it  all  meant,  the  air  was  rent  by 
the  sharp,  quick  report  of  a  gun  from  the  American 
legation. 

This  seemed  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  real  state  of 
affairs,  and  Mr.  Underwood  and  Mr.  Hulbert  at  once  re- 
paired to  the  legation  to  make  sure  that  there  was  no  mis- 


i8        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

take,  but  soon  returned,  with  the  welcome  news,  that  the 
firing  of  the  gun  had  been  accidental.  The  burning  build- 
ings also  proved  to  have  been  only  a  coincidence,  and  the 
noise  nothing  more  than  common  with  a  Korean  crowd 
round  a  fire.  In  a  way  that  still  seems  to  be  miraculous, 
the  raging  of  {he  heathen  was  quieted,  God  was  round 
about  us,  the  danger  that  looked  inevitable  passed  away, 
and  all  was  calm. 

Not  long  after  this  came  the  first  request  from  the 
palace  for  me  to  attend  on  the  queen,  to  which  I  re- 
sponded not  without  some  anxiety,  lest  through  some  un- 
looked-for occurrence  some  misstep  on  my  part,  the  work 
of  our  mission  so  auspiciously  begun  should  be  hindered 
or  stopped.  As  yet  somewhat  uncertain  of  our  foothold, 
ignorant  to  a  large  extent  of  the  people  with  whom  we 
had  to  deal,  we  trembled  lest  some  inadvertence  might 
close  the  door,  only  so  lately  and  unwillingly  opened. 
I  had  been  told  I  must  always  go  in  full  court  dress,  but 
when  I  came  to  open  the  boxes,  which  contained  the 
gowns  prepared  for  this  purpose,  I  found  that  both  had 
been  ruined  in  crossing  the  Pacific  and  could  not  be  worn. 
Alas!  how  inauspicious  to  be  obliged  to  appear  before 
royalty  in  unsuitable  attire,  which  might  be  attributed  to 
disrespect!  But  a  far  more  serious  trouble  than  this 
weighed  upon  my  mind  as  my  chair  coolies  jogged  me 
along  the  winding  streets  and  alleys  to  the  palace  grounds. 
I  had  been  strictly  warned  not  to  say  anything  to  the 
queen  on  the  subject  of  religion.  "We  are  only  here  on 
sufferance,"  it  was  urged,  "and  even  though  our  teaching 
the  common  people  may  be  overlooked  and  winked  at,  if 
it  is  brought  before  the  authorities  so  openly  and  boldly, 
as  it  would  be  to  introduce  it  into  the  palace,  even  our 
warmest  friends  might  feel  obliged  to  utterly  forbid 
further  access  to  the  royal  family,  if  not  to  banish  us  alto- 


FIRST    INVITATION    TO   THE    PALACE  19 

gether  from  the  country."  "Wait,"  it  was  said,  "until 
our  footing  is  more  assured ;  do  not  risk  all  through  im- 
patience." 

I  saw  the  logic  of  these  words,  though  my  heart  talked 
hotly  in  a  very  different  way ;  but  I  went  to  the  palace  with 
my  mouth  sealed  on  the  one  subject  I  had  come  to  pro- 
claim. 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Palaces— The  Stone  Dogs— The  Fire  God's  Defeat— The 
Summer  Pleasure  House — Royal  Reception  Hall — Court  Dress 
of  Noblemen — First  Impression  of  the  King — Appearance 
of  the  Queen — The  Queen's  Troubles — The  Queen's  Coup 
d'etat — The  Verb  Endings — The  Queen's  Generosity — Stone 
Fight — Gifts — The  Quaga — Poukhan — Its  Impregnability — 
Picturesque  Surroundings  of  Seoul — Pioneer  Work — Prog- 
ress of  Work — The  Queen's  Wedding  Gift — Our  Wedding 
— Opposition  to  my  Going  to  the  Interior — My  Chair — The 
Chair  Coolies. 

THE  palaces,  of  which  there  were  at  that  time  three, 
and  are  now  four,  within  the  city  walls,  consist  of  several 
groups  of  one-story  bungalow  buildings,  within  large 
grounds  or  parks,  which  are  surrounded  by  fine  stone 
walls,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high,  of  considerable  thick- 
ness. Within  these  inclosures  were  barracks  for  soldiers, 
and  quarters  for  under-officials  and  servants.  A  special 
group  of  houses  stood  separated  from  the  others  for 
women's  apartments,  and  here  might  be  seen  the  aged  and 
rather  infirm  dowager  queen,  who  died  about  a  year  after 
my  arrival.  The  main  gates  in  the  walls  of  the  palace  I 
was  about  to  visit  are  three,  facing  on  the  great  main 
thoroughfare  of  the  city.  The  central  one,  larger  than  the 
others,  was  used  only  for  royalty ;  even  ministers  of  for- 
eign states  are  expected  to  enter  by  one  of  the  two  smaller 
ones  on  either  side. 

The  fact  that  on  one  occasion  the  central  gate  had  by 
special  royal  order  been  thrown  open  for  the  American 
minister  is  an  illustration  of  the  kindness  and  favor 


THE   STONE   DOGS  21 

always  shown  to  our  representatives.  These  entrances  are 
approached  by  broad,  stone  steps  and  a  platform  with 
handsome,  carved  stone  balustrade,  which  is  surmounted 
as  well  as  the  lofty  gates  by  crudely  chiseled  stone  images 
of  various  mythological  animals.  Some  ten  or  more  paces 
in  front  of  these  steps,  and  on  either  side,  are  the  great 
stone  dogs,  so  called  for  want  of  a  better  name,  for  they 
no  more  resemble  dogs  than  lions.  The  story  of  their 
origin  is  as  follows :  The  fire  god,  it  was  said,  had  a  special 
enmity  against  this  palace,  and  repeatedly  burned  it  down ; 
various  efforts  had  been  made  to  propitiate  or  intimidate 
him  with  little  success;  at  length  an  expensive  dragon 
was  brought  from  China  and  placed  in  a  moat  in  the 
grounds.  While  he  lived  all  was  well,  but  one  ill-fated 
day  an  enemy  poisoned  this  faithful  guardian,  and  that 
night  the  palace  was  again  burned.  Finally  some  fertile 
brain  devised  these  animals,  no  poison  could  affect  their 
stony  digestion,  no  fear  or  cajoling  could  impress  their 
hard  hearts ;  so  there  they  stand  on  their  tall  pedestals — 
fierce  and  uncompromising,  facing  the  quarter  whence  the 
fire  god  comes,  always  on  guard,  never  sleeping  in  their 
faithful  watch,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  he  has  never 
been  able  to  burn  the  buildings  thus  protected. 

I  was  conducted,  however,  through  neither  of  these 
three  main  gates,  but  as  a  very  strict  rule  was  then  in  ex- 
istence that  no  chair  coolies  should  be  allowed  within  the 
palace  walls,  my  chair  was  carried  to  a  small  gate,  much 
nearer  the  royal  apartments,  so  that  we  should  not  be 
obliged  to  walk  so  far.  Mrs.  Bunker  and  Dr.  Heron  ac- 
companied me,  and  we  were  met  by  gentlemanly  Korean 
officials,  and  taken  to  a  little  waiting  room,  furnished  with 
European  chairs,  and  a  table,  upon  which  were  little  cakes, 
cigars  and  champagne,  all  of  which  were  offered  to  us 
ladies,  though  after  a  better  acquaintance  with  us,  tea  was 


22        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

substituted  in  place  of  the  tobacco  and  wine.  It  would 
take  far  too  long  to  describe  all  that  engaged  my  eager 
interest  as  we  walked  through  the  palace  grounds.  A 
beautiful  and  interesting  summer  pleasure  house — per- 
haps one  of  the  most  unique  and  remarkable  in  the  world 
— stands  in  the  center  of  a  large  lotus  pond.  It  has  an 
upper  story  and  roof  supported  on  forty-eight  monoliths, 
the  outer  row  being  about  four  feet  square  at  the  base ; 
the  inner  columns  are  rounded,  of  about  the  same  diam- 
eter, and  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  high ;  the  upper  story  is 
of  wood,  elaborately  carved,  and  brightly  decorated ; 
most  of  these  buildings  are  covered  with  a  beautiful  green 
glazed  tile,  peculiar  to  royal  edifices. 

There  were  many  other  interesting  buildings,  among 
which  the  royal  reception  hall  was  probably  the  finest. 
We  saw  a  great  number  of  officials,  eunuchs,  chusas, 
noblemen  and  soldiers,  each  kind  and  grade  wearing  a 
different  attire  from  all  the  others. 

The  dress  of  the  common  soldiers  was  intended  to  be  an 
imitation  of  European  military  costume  adapted  to  the 
ideas  of  the  Koreans.  The  result  was  a  hybrid  which  had 
neither  the  dignity  nor  the  usefulness  of  the  one  or  the 
other.  It  consisted  of  a  loose  blouse  jacket,  and  badly 
fitting,  baggy  trousers,  made  of  thin  black  cotton  cloth, 
with  scarlet  trimmings.  The  jacket  was  belted  in,  and  a 
black  felt  hat  surmounted  the  top-knot,  and  was  fastened 
insecurely  beneath  the  chin  by  a  narrow  band.  This  un- 
becoming uniform  has  now  been  changed,  and  the  Em- 
peror's soldiers  are  as  well  dressed  as  those  of  any  Euro- 
pean nation. 

Korean  noblemen  when  in  attendance  at  the  palace  wear 
a  dark  blue  coat,  with  a  belt  which  is  far  too  large  and 
forms  a  sort  of  hoop  in  front  of  the  person.  An  em- 
broidered breastplate  is  worn  over  the  chest,  representing 


THE   ROYAL   RECEPTION  23 

a  stork  for  civil  office  and  a  tiger  for  military  rank.  The 
head-dress  is  a  kind  of  hat  woven  of  horsehair,  with  wings 
at  either  side,  curved  forward,  as  it  were  in  order  to 
catch  every  word  uttered  by  royalty.  Nobles  and  officials 
wear  on  the  hat  band,  just  back  of  the  ears,  buttons  of 
various  styles  made  of  gold  or  jade,  which  indicate  the  de- 
gree of  the  wearer's  rank. 

When  the  royal  family  were  ready  to  see  us,  Mrs. 
Bunker  and  I  were  conducted  through  the  grounds  a  short 
distance,  passed  through  several  gateways,  and  at  length 
stood  at  the  entrance  of  an  anteroom  half  filled  with 
nobles,  eunuchs  and  palace  women,  beyond  which,  in  a 
very  small  inner  room,  were  the  king  and  queen,  and 
their  son,  a  youth  about  sixteen  years  of  age.  We  passed 
forward  to  the  audience-room,  bowing  frequently  and 
very  low  to  the  smiling  party  of  three  who  awaited  us. 

Never  before  had  I,  an  American — a  descendant  of 
colonial  ancestors  who  had  cast  off  the  shackles  of  tyranny 
— bowed  so  low.  Never  had  I  thought  to  feel  as  I  felt 
when  first  entering  the  presence  of  a  real  live  king  and 
queen.  The  royal  family  had  most  graciously  risen  to 
greet  us,  and  at  once  invited  us  to  be  seated.  At  that  time, 
at  least,  Korean  nobles  never  entered  the  royal  presence 
without  prostrating  themselves  to  the  ground,  and  such  a 
piece  of  presumption  as  sitting  was  never  dreamed  of ;  so 
we  refused  the  offered  chairs,  having  been  especially 
warned  that  not  to  do  so  might  awaken  jealousy  and 
make  enemies  to  the  cause  we  loved.  The  point,  however, 
was  insisted  upon  to  such  an  extent  that  we  could  no 
longer  with  politeness  refuse,  and  so  we  found  ourselves 
sitting  face  to  face  in  a  chatty  sort  of  way,  in  a  little  eight 
by  ten  room,  with  the  king  and  queen  of  Korea.  The 
king  impressed  me  at  that  and  every  subsequent  meeting 
as  a  fine-looking  genial  gentleman.  He  was  attired  in  a 


24        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

long  touramachi,  or  coat  of  rich  red  silk  (the  royal  color), 
with  a  cap  or  head-dress  like  those  worn  by  the  noblemen, 
except  that  the  wings  turned  back  rather  than  forward 
like  theirs. 

The  queen,  of  course,  excited  my  deepest  interest. 
Slightly  pale  and  quite  thin,  with  somewhat  sharp 
features  and  brilliant  piercing  eyes,  she  did  not  strike  me 
at  first  sight  as  being  beautiful,  but  no  one  could  help 
reading  force,  intellect  and  strength  of  character  in  that 
face,  and  as  she  became  engaged  in  conversation,  vivacity, 
naivete,  wit,  all  brightened  her  countenance,  and  gave  it 
a  wonderful  charm,  far  greater  than  mere  physical  beauty ; 
and  I  have  seen  the  queen  of  Korea  when  she  looked 
positively  beautiful. 

She  possessed  mental  qualities  of  a  high  order,  as  I 
soon  learned,  and  although,  like  all  Asiatics,  her  learning 
consisted  chiefly  in  the  Chinese  classics,  she  possessed  a 
very  intelligent  idea  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world  and 
their  governments,  for  she  asked  many  questions,  and  re- 
membered what  she  heard.  She  was  a  subtle  and  able  di- 
plomatist and  usually  outwitted  her  keenest  opponents; 
she  was,  moreover,  a  sovereign  of  broad  and  progressive 
policy,  patriotic,  and  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  her 
country  and  sought  the  good  of  the  people  to  a  much 
larger  extent  than  would  be  expected  of  an  Oriental 
queen.  In  addition,  she  possessed  a  warm  heart,  a  tender 
love  for  little  children,  a  delicacy  and  consideration  in  her 
relations,  at  least  with  us  missionaries,  which  would  have 
done  honor  to  any  European  lady  of  high  rank.  The 
queen,  though  a  Korean  who  had  never  seen  the  society 
of  a  foreign  court,  was  a  perfect  lady.  It  was  with  sur- 
prise that  I  learned  that  as  much  difference  exists  in 
Korea  between  the  people  of  high  birth  and  breeding  and 
the  common  coolie  as  is  found  between  the  European 


THE    KING    OF    KOREA.        PAGE    23 


THE   QUEEN'S   TROUBLES  25 

gentleman  and  the  day  laborer.  Their  majesties  kindly 
inquired  about  my  trip  to  Korea,  my  present  comfort,  and 
my  friends  and  family  in  America,  showing  the  kindest 
interest  in  what  concerned  me  most.  The  conversation 
was  carried  on  through  an  interpreter,  who  stood  behind 
a  tall  screen,  his  body  bent  nearly  double  in  reverence, 
never  raising  his  eyes. 

I  learned  later  that  Korean  doctors,  always  men,  who 
had  treated  the  queen,  felt  (?)  her  pulse  by  using  a  cord, 
one  end  of  which  was  fastened  about  her  wrist,  and  the 
other  carried  into  the  next  room  was  held  in  the  doctor's 
fingers.  The  royal  tongue,  I  was  told,  was  protruded 
through  a  slit  in  a  screen  for  the  physician's  observation. 
I  found  the  queen's  trouble  nothing  more  serious  than  a 
small  furuncle  which  needed  lancing ;  but  as  the  mere  sug- 
gestion of  approaching  her  sacred  person  with  any  sort 
of  surgical  instrument  was  looked  upon  with  unspeak- 
able horror  and  indignation  by  all  who  surrounded  her, 
and  was  flatly  forbidden  by  the  king,  patience  and  slower 
measures  were  necessarily  resorted  to. 

It  was  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  all  the  queen's 
friends  were  so  over-cautious  and  fearful  for  her  safety. 
She  had  suffered  long  and  malignant  persecution  at  the 
hands  of  a  cruel  father-in-law,  whose  wicked  ambitious 
schemes  and  greed  of  power  she  had  balked,  and  nothing 
that  a  fertile  brain  and  hate  combined  with  wealth  and  in- 
fluence could  contrive  was  left  undone  to  bring  about  the 
ruin  of  this  unhappy  lady.  Slander,  assassins,  insurrec- 
tion, fire,  conspiracy  with  hostile  nations — were  all  re- 
sorted to;  many  and  thrilling  were  her  hairbreadth 
escapes.  Once  disguised  and  carried  on  the  back  of  a 
faithful  retainer,  she  was  taken  from  one  end  of  the  city 
to  the  other,  and  once  in  a  common  native  woman's  chair 
she  was  borne  to  a  place  of  concealment  and  safety. 


26       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Nearly  her  whole  immediate  family  were  destroyed  at  one 
fell  blow,  by  means  of  an  infernal  machine  cunningly  de- 
vised, sent  as  a  present  of  great  value  from  a  supposed 
hermit,  to  be  opened  only  in  the  presence  of  every  member 
of  the  family.  Through  some  fortunate  circumstances  the 
queen  was  detained  away,  but  all  present  were  instantly 
killed  and  horribly  mutilated.  To  understand  the  reason 
for  this  ferocious  enmity,  one  needs  to  know  a  little  of  the 
royal  history. 

The  present  king  was  the  adopted  son  of  a  former 
childless  king.  His  widow  appointed  the  present  king's 
father  to  act  as  regent  until  the  majority  of  his  son.  The 
older  man  was  greedy  of  power,  keen  and  crafty,  and  not 
inclined  to  hand  over  the  reins  of  government ;  he  there- 
fore selected  a  wife  for  his  son  from  a  family  of  his  near 
friends,  choosing  a  woman  he  supposed  he  could  easily 
control ;  but  he  was  mistaken  in  her  character  and  gifts. 
Years  slipped  by  and  time  had  long  been  over-ripe  for  the 
king  to  assume  the  government,  and  yet  the  "Tai-won- 
kun"  gave  no  sign  of  relinquishing  his  clutch  upon  the 
reins  of  power ;  but  the  king,  gentle  and  submissive  to  his 
father,  as  all  Koreans  are  taught  to  be,  was  unwilling 
to  force  a  resignation.  One  morning,  however,  through  a 
coup  d'etat  of  the  queen,  the  old  man  found  himself  dis- 
placed, and  a  new  cabinet  and  set  of  advisers  selected 
from  the  friends  and  cousins  of  the  queen.  His  rage 
knew  no  bounds,  and  from  that  time  forth  he  planned  her 
destruction.  How  he  finally  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his 
malicious  intentions  must  be  related  later.  Thus  far,  the 
queen,  equally  shrewd  and  fortunate,  had  escaped  his 
toils. 

To  return  to  our  palace  visit,  however.  After  examin- 
ing into  her  majesty's  trouble,  and  prescribing  a  course  of 
treatment,  we  took  our  leave,  backing  and  bowing  our- 


THE   QUEEN'S    GENEROSITY  27 

selves  out  of  the  royal  apartments  as  if  we  had  been  born 
and  bred  hangers-on  of  courts.  I  soon  learned  that  all 
my  verbs  must  wear  a  long  train  of  "simnaitas,"  "simni- 
kas,"  and  "sipsios,"  the  highest  honorific  endings  when 
visiting  the  palace.  Each  Korean  verb  has  a  generous 
collection  of  these  endings,  from  which  the  confused  and 
unwary  stranger  must  select  at  his  peril,  when  addressing 
natives  of  different  ranks;  but  there  is  no  doubt,  fortu- 
nately, about  what  must  be  used  at  the  palace,  and  one 
feels  quite  safe  if  every  verb  is  tipped  with  a  "simnaita"  or 
"simnika"  To  be  sure,  there  are  high  Chinese-derived 
words,  which  natives  always  use  there,  .instead  of  the 
simpler  Anglo-Saxon — I  should  say,  Korean1 — but  unin- 
itiated foreigners  are  not  expected  to  know  them,  and  are 
really  most  generously  excused  for  all  mistakes.  Koreans 
are  in  this  respect  models  of  kindness  and  politeness,  and 
will  often  hear  newcomers  make  the  most  laughable  and 
absurd  mistakes  without  a  single  spasm  of  countenance 
to  show  that  they  have  taken  note  of  the  blunder. 

Not  many  days  after  this  visit  to  the  palace,  an  official 
appeared  at  my  home  with  a  number  of  interesting  and 
beautiful  gifts  from  the  queen,  including  a  fine  embroid- 
ered screen,  embroidered  pillow,  and  bed  cushions,  native 
silks,  linens,  cotton  materials,  fans,  pockets  and  various 
other  articles. 

Her  majesty  was  extremely  generous,  and  it  was  noth- 
ing unusual  for  her  thus  to  bestow  in  most  munificent 
fashion  gifts  upon  the  members  of  our  mission  whom  she 
had  met,  and  upon  the  ladies  of  the  legations.  Every 
Korean  New  Year's  day  any  of  us  who  were  in  the 
slightest  way  connected  with  the  palace  or  government  in- 
stitutions received  many  pheasants,  bags  of  nuts,  pounds 
of  beef,  large  fish,  hundreds  of  eggs  and  pounds  of  dried 
persimmons. 


28        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

On  the  royal  birthdays,  too,  dainties  were  sent  to  us, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  each  summer  dozens  of  fans  and 
jars  of  honey  water  were  presented.  This  open-handed 
generosity  indicated  not  only  the  queen's  kind  disposi- 
tion, but  the  favor  with  which  all  Americans  were  re- 
garded by  the  Korean  authorities,  due  largely  to  the 
favorable  impression  which  Dr.  Allen  had  made,  and  also 
perhaps  to  the  fact  that  we  belonged  to  a  large  and  power- 
ful nation,  which  had  no  object  in  interfering  in  Eastern 
politics  in  any  way  to  the  detriment  of  Korea,  and  which 
might  become  an  efficient  ally  and  defender. 

During  my  first  year  I  had  the  exciting  and  doubtful 
privilege  of  being  present  at  a  native  sectional  or  stone 
fight,  an  experience  which  few  covet  even  once — and 
which  the  wise  and  informed,  at  least  of  womankind,  in- 
variably forego.  Once  a  year  at  a  certain  season,  where 
two  neighborhoods  or  sections  have  grievances  against 
each  other,  they  settle  them  by  one  of  these  fights.  They 
choose  captains,  arrange  the  opposing  parties,  and  begin 
firing  stones  and  tiles  at  each  other.  As  one  crowd  or  the 
other  is  by  turns  victorious,  and  the  pursued  flee  before 
their  enemies,  and  as  those  who  are  at  one  moment  tri- 
umphant are  often  the  very  next  the  vanquished,  hotly 
chased,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  any  safe  point  of 
vantage  from  which  to  view  the  conflict.  At  any  instant 
the  place  one  has  chosen,  as  well  removed  and  safe,  may 
become  the  ground  of  the  hottest  battle.  Very  large 
stones  are  often  thrown,  and  people  are  fatally  injured, 
though  not  as  frequently  as  one  would  think.  It  is  a 
wonder  that  hundreds  are  not  killed  or  wounded.  In 
going  from  my  home  to  visit  a  friend  one  day,  a  few 
weeks  after  my  arrival,  I  was  obliged  to  pass  a  large 
crowd  of  men,  who  seemed  divided  into  two  parties,  and 
were  very  noisy  and  vociferous.  I  remarked  upon  this  to 


A   STONE   FIGHT  29 

my  friend,  and  sending  to  inquire,  we  found  it  was  the 
preliminaries  of  a  stone  fight  which  I  had  witnessed.  Her 
husband  said  it  would  not  be  safe  for  me  to  return  alone, 
and  therefore  to  my  lasting  gratitude  offered  to  see  me 
through  it. 

We  soon  found  that  the  stones  and  missiles  were  com- 
ing our  way,  and  were  forced  to  run  for  shelter  to  a 
Korean  house.  For  a  few  moments  the  fight  was  hot 
around  us,  and  then  as  it  seemed  to  have  passed  on — 
quite  far  down  the  street — we  ventured  forth,  only  to  find 
that  the  tide  had  again  turned,  and  the  whole  mob  were 
tearing  in  our  direction.  Mr.  Bunker,  for  it  was  he,  said 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  scale  a  half-broken  wall 
into  an  adjacent  compound,  and  run  for  it  to  the  house  of 
Mr.  Gilmore,  not  far  distant.  So,  reckless  of  my  best 
gown,  I  scaled  the  wall  with  great  alacrity,  and  we  ran  for 
it  quite  shamelessly.  Missiles  of  considerable  size  were 
raining  around  us,  and  the  possibility,  or  rather  prob- 
ability, that  one  would  soon  light  on  our  heads,  accelerated 
our  speed  to  no  small  degree.  These  affairs  are  often 
funny  in  retrospect,  but  smack  strongly  of  the  tragic  at  the 
time,  while  the  outcome  is  so  decidedly  uncertain.  How- 
ever, by  much  dodging  and  circling,  frequently  sheltering 
ourselves  under  the  wall,  we  at  length  reached  Mr.  Gil- 
more's  house,  when,  in  a  somewhat  ruffled  and  perturbed 
condition,  I  waited  till  the  coast  was  quite  clear  and  found 
my  way  home,  a  wiser  and  deeply  thoughtful  woman. 

On  one  occasion  not  long  since  an  affair  of  this  kind 
threatened  very  serious  results  for  a  hot-headed  young 
compatriot  of  ours,  who  went  to  photograph  one  of  these 
fights.  A  cool-headed  American  recently  snapped  his 
camera  on  a  tiger  here  before  shooting  it,  and  it  may  have 
been  in  emulation  of  him,  that  our  young  friend  made 
this  attempt.  He  soon  became  convinced  that  he  was  the 


30        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

object  at  which  all  the  missiles  were  sent,  and  that  the 
bloodthirsty  ruffians  were  all  seeking  his  life.  Being  un- 
fortunately as  well  as  unlawfully  armed  with  a  six- 
shooter,  over-excited  and  alarmed,  he  fired  into  the  crowd 
and  fled.  His  bullet  entered  the  fleshy  part  of  the  leg  of 
one  of  the  natives,  who  fell,  as  most  of  them  supposed, 
mortally  wounded  ;and  now  indeed  the  wrath  of  the  crowd 
on  both  sides  was  directed  at  its  hottest  against  the 
thoroughly  frightened  young  man.  He  ran  for  his  life — 
the  crowd  pursuing  with  yells  of  fury.  Camera  and  over- 
coat were  flung  away — he  had  nearly  a  mile  to  go  to  reach 
shelter  in  the  American  legation,  which  he  at  length  man- 
aged to  do,  panting  and  almost  exhausted.  As  his  victim 
was  not  seriously  hurt,  he  escaped  with  the  payment  of  a 
fine,  a  few  weeks'  imprisonment,  a  most  severe  reprimand, 
and  a  polite  request  to  leave  the  country. 

The  Koreans  often  evince  considerable  military  skill  in 
the  tactics  of  these  civil  battles.  Sharpshooters  armed 
with  slings  will  take  possession  of  some  high  point,  and 
others  are  sent  to  take  them  by  surprise  and  dislodge  them, 
suddenly  creeping  upon  them  from  the  rear,  or  scaling  the 
rampart  in  the  face  of  the  enemy's  fire.  These  natives  re- 
peatedly prove  themselves  good  fighters  and  no  cowards, 
when  armed  and  facing  not  too  unequal  numbers. 

During  this  my  first  summer  in  Korea  I  was  invited  to 
attend  a  royal  Quaga.  This  was  a  very  interesting  assem- 
blage of  Korean  scholars,  who  met  in  the  palace  grounds, 
and  there  in  little  tents  or  booths  wrote  theses  in  Chinese 
on  some  subject  given  by  the  king.  Those  whose  papers 
passed  a  successful  examination  were  rewarded  with  some 
civil  rank,  supposed  to  be  proportioned  to  the  excellence 
of  their  standing.  I  should  think  that  more  than  a  thou- 
sand men  from  all  parts  of  the  country  were  gathered 
in  these  grounds,  busily  writing  or  copying  their 


POUKHAN  31 

papers,  some  of  which  were  then  being  handed  to  the 
judges. 

I  was  told,  however,  that  in  nearly  all  the  successful 
cases  money  was  necessary  to  aid  the  judgment  and 
clarify  the  minds  of  the  judges.  We  were  treated  with 
great  kindness,  invited  to  a  fine  pavilion,  and  later  offered 
refreshments  in  the  royal  dining  hall.  This  old-time 
(shall  I  say,  dishonored)  institution  has  now  fallen  into 
disuse  for  some  years.  No  doubt  in  its  honest  beginnings 
a  truly  competitive  examination  for  office,  it  was  good 
and  useful,  but  abuses  creeping  in,  rendered  it  an  empty 
form  to  be  finally  abolished  as  a  useless  and  effete  remnant 
of  ancient  days. 

Another  event  of  the  summer  was  a  little  trip  made  to 
Poukhan,  or  the  northern  fortress,  about  ten  miles  distant 
from  Seoul.  It  is  said  by  Koreans  that  a  secret  under- 
ground road  leads  from  it  to  the  palace  in  Seoul,  so  that 
in  case  of  any  danger,  or  the  investment  of  the  city  by 
enemies,  the  royal  family  could  flee  hither  for  safety.  It  is 
in  truth  an  ideal  spot  for  such  a  purpose.  European  sol- 
diers have  said  that  properly  fortified  it  would  be  for 
months,  perhaps  years,  impregnable.  Our  visit  was  made 
in  Korea's  loveliest  season,  the  month  of  May,  which  is,  if 
possible,  more  beautiful  than  in  any  other  land.  Wild 
flowers  of  the  most  exquisite  hue  and  odor  abound  every- 
where, but  at  Poukhan  they  seemed  to  be  in  greater  quan- 
tities and  lovelier  colors.  The  mountain  rises  bold  and 
rugged  in  outline,  and  its  scenery  is  wild  and  in  places 
almost  forbidding,  but  a  beautiful  brook  dashes  down  its 
sides,  leaping  over  huge  boulders  and  turning  everything 
into  luxuriant  beauty,  like  the  lovely  maids  of  fairy  lore, 
in  whose  footsteps  the  sweetest  flowers  sprang  and  from 
whose  lips  dropped  fairest  gems. 

This  brook  flows  from  a  spring  which  bubbles  up  in 


32        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

the  top  of  the  mountain,  so  that  any  garrison  stationed 
there  need  never  surrender  for  want  of  water,  nor  indeed 
of  food,  for  after  a  steep  ascent  of  about  a  mile,  the  path 
suddenly  pierces  the  rocks,  and  entering  a  picturesque  gate 
in  a  more  picturesque  wall,  all  hung  with  ivy,  dips  into  a 
verdant  valley  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  lofty  barriers  of 
rock.  Here  are  fertile  fields  where  food  can  easily  be 
raised  and  stored  against  an  evil  time. 

Some  of  our  missionaries  often  come  here,  and  spend 
the  hot  and  unhealthy  summer  weeks  among  the  cool 
shades  of  these  lofty  rocks — in  some  of  the  Buddhist 
temples.  There  are  some  delightful  little  pavilions,  near 
clear,  cool  pools  of  water,  with  scenery  on  all  sides  very 
wild,  beautiful,  and  picturesque. 

At  that  time,  in  the  history  of  our  mission  nearly  every 
foreigner  possessed  a  horse,  most  of  them  Chinese  ponies, 
very  gentle  and  easy  to  ride.  Utterly  unacquainted  with 
the  nature  of  the  people,  it  was  feared  by  many  that 
danger  might  suddenly  arise,  and  that  we  ought  to  have 
means  of  escape  at  hand.  We  found  them  very  useful  and 
pleasant  accessories,  and  often  when  the  hot  afternoon 
sun  was  low  we  explored  some  of  the  pretty  and  interest- 
ing surroundings  of  Seoul. 

This  city  lies  encircled  by  low  mountains,  whose  tree- 
less and  bare  outlines  cut  the  blue  horizon  with  a  bold 
abruptness.  Among  the  hills  and  mountain  passes  are 
pretty  woods  and  groves — and  here  lies  nestled  many  a 
little  hamlet,  entered  through  some  charming  lane,  bor- 
dered with  blossoming  bushes  of  clematis,  eglantine,  haw- 
thorn or  syringa,  in  richest  profusion.  Mr.  Underwood 
was  often  my  guide  on  these  excursions;  sometimes  we 
walked  on  the  city  wall,  and  saw  the  distant  mountains 
and  the  sleeping  villages  beneath  us,  bathed  in  glorious 
moonlight,  and  thanked  God  for  casting  our  lives  in  a  land 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORK  33 

of  so  much  beauty  and  among  a  people  so  kindly  and 
teachable. 

During  all  these  months  and  the  following  winter 
foundations  were  still  busily  laying,  language  helps 
and  Bible  translations  were  under  way,  and  through 
hospital  and  school,  as  well  as  by  direct  evangelistic  effort, 
people  were  being  reached.  The  number  of  attendants 
upon  the  services  in  the  little  chapel  was  daily  increasing, 
and  reports  came  from  the  natives  working  in  the  country 
of  inquirers  and  converts  there,  which  made  it  seem  neces- 
sary to  make  another  extended  trip  as  soon  as  possible. 
A  second  trip  had  already  been  made  by  Mr.  Underwood, 
selling  books  and  simple  medicines,  and  gathering  in  here 
and  there  a  little  handful  of  converts.  He  met  with  great 
encouragement,  but  baptized  few.  During  his  first  trip 
he  traveled  to  the  northern  border  of  Korea,  stopping  in 
all  the  large  towns,  Songdo,  Anju,  Pyeng  Yang,  Kangai, 
Haiju,  Ouiju.  During  the  entire  year  less  than  twenty- 
five  were  baptized,  and  from  the  first  altogether  up  to  that 
time  hardly  fifty,  while  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  to- 
gether up  to  1889  numbered  only  a  little  over  one  hundred. 
In  April  of  1888  he  baptized  seven  men  at  Sorai,  a  village 
in  Whang  Hai,  where  the  Gospel  had  been  brought  in 
from  China  by  a  Mr.  Saw  Sang  Hyen,  a  convert  of  Mr. 
Ross'.  Some  of  these  men  had  come  to  the  capital  in  the 
spring  of  1887  and  three  had  been  baptized  after  careful 
examination. 

The  seven  who  were  received  in  their  own  village  had 
been  for  more  than  a  year  in  preparation,  and  then  were 
baptized  only  after  Mr.  Underwood  had  spent  ten  days 
in  their  village,  talking  with  and  examining  them. 
This  is  mentioned  to  show  that  extreme  caution  was  used 
in  making  the  first  admissions  to  the  native  church,  in 
order  that  its  foundations  might  be  laid  securely,  if  slowly. 


34        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

In  the  trip  made  in  November,  1888,  certain  Koreans  had 
been  placed  in  a  few  localities  to  instruct,  sell  tracts  and 
pave  the  way  for  the  work  of  the  foreigner  on  a  succeed- 
ing visit.  One  of  these  men  was  stationed  at  Pyeng  Yang, 
one  at  Chang  Yun,  and  one  at  Ouiju.  Extremely  encour- 
aging, but  in  some  cases  exaggerated  reports  came  from 
all  these  places  as  to  the  increasing  number  of  hopeful  in- 
quirers, and  it  seemed  imperative  that  a  trip  should  be 
taken  as  soon  as  spring  opened,  for  the  examination,  en- 
couragement and  instruction  of  these  new  believers,  and 
to  oversee  the  work  of  the  employed  agents,  who  were 
necessarily  unproved  as  yet. 

Mr.  Underwood  and  I  had  been  engaged  since  the  early 
fall,  and  we  had  arranged  to  be  married,  and  to  start  for 
the  country  on  the  fourteenth  of  March.  The  whole 
foreign  community  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
tokens  of  kindness  and  good  will  towards  us  on  that  oc- 
casion. 

On  the  morning  of  the  eventful  day,  the  jingling  bells 
of  many  pack-ponies  was  heard  in  our  courtyard,  and 
I  soon  discovered  that  quite  a  train  of  the  little  animals 
had  arrived  with  the  gift  of  her  majesty.  One  million 
cash!  It  sounds  like  "Arabian  Nights,"  but  as  at  that 
time  2,500  to  3,000  cash  went  to  the  making  of  the  dollar, 
it  was  not,  after  all,  more  than  a  generous  Korean  queen 
might  easily  give,  or  a  missionary  easily  dispose  of.  Their 
majesties  arranged  for  several  people  from  the  palace 
to  be  present  at  the  ceremony,  the  army  was  represented 
by  General  Han  Ku  Sul,  a  nobleman  of  the  highest  rank, 
and  the  cabinet  by  Min  Yeng  Whan,  a  near  relative  of 
the  queen,  and  in  highest  favor  with  their  majesties. 

A  number  of  palace  women  were  also  present,  behind 
screens,  and  of  course  some  of  the  native  Christians.  The 
whole  foreign  community  gave  us  their  good  wishes,  and. 


OUR  WEDDING  TRIP  35 

cable  messages  were  put  in  our  hands  just  after  the  cere- 
mony, from  each  of  our  respective  homes  in  America. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  I4th  of  March,  1889,  we 
set  out  on  our  wedding  trip. 

Everything  except  force  had  been  resorted  to  by  mis- 
sionaries and  foreigners  residing  in  Seoul  to  prevent  my 
taking  this  journey.  No  European  woman  had,  as  yet, 
ever  traveled  in  the  interior  of  Korea,  and  not  more  than 
four  of  five  men  had  ever  ventured  ten  miles  outside  the 
walls,  except  to  the  port.  Tigers  and  leopards  were 
known  to  exist  in  the  mountains ;  the  character  of  the 
natives  was  not  well  understood  by  most  people;  conta- 
gion in  the  inns,  the  rudeness  of  mobs,  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  good  water,  no  means  of  speedy  communica- 
tion with  Seoul,  the  necessity  at  times  of  long  marches, 
were  all  possible  dangers,  but  were  greatly  overestimated. 
It  was  freely  and  frequently  predicted,  that  if  I  came  back 
at  all,  it  would  be  in  my  coffin,  and  my  poor  husband  fell 
under  the  heaviest  of  public  censure  for  consenting  to  take 
me.  As  he  had  made  two  trips  and  saw  no  difficulty,  I 
felt  I  could  trust  his  judgment,  and  as  country  work  was 
exactly  what  I  had  longed  to  do,  and  what  had  been  my 
ideal  from  the  first,  I  looked  forward  with  the  greatest 
pleasure  to  a  journey  through  a  lovely  country,  to  be 
filled  with  blessed  service ;  it  seemed  to  me  no  honeymoon 
so  rich  in  delight  could  ever  have  been  planned  before. 

It  was  arranged  that  I  Should  go  in  a  native  chair, 
which  consisted  of  a  sort  of  box  frame,  high  enough  for 
me  to  sit  in  Turkish  fashion;  it  had  a  roof  of  bamboo 
covered  with  paper  oiled  and  painted,  the  sides  were 
closed  in  with  blue  muslin,  and  there  were  little  windows 
of  stained  glass  on  either  side.  A  curtain  in  the  front 
could  be  raised  or  buttoned  down  to  keep  out  the  chill  or 
the  disagreeable  piercing  eyes  of  the  curious  sightseers  or 


36        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

kugungers,  as  they  are  called  in  Korea.  My  conveyance 
was  made  more  comfortable  by  cushions  beneath  and  be- 
hind my  seat,  a  shawl  was  draped  around  the  inside  to 
keep  out  draughts,  and  with  a  hot-water  bottle  and  foot- 
muff  at  my  feet,  I  felt  positively  steeped  in  luxury,  and 
quite  too  much  babyfied  for  a  hardy  missionary. 

I  was  carried  by  a  couple  of  strong  chair  coolies,  the 
poles  on  which  the  chair  was  placed  resting  in  straps, 
which  hung  from  the  shoulders  of  the  carriers,  so  that  its 
main  weight  came  on  them,  rather  than  on  the  hands, 
which  grasped  the  poles.  There  were  four  bearers,  two 
who  carried,  and  two  who,  by  placing  a  strong  rod  under 
the  chair,  lifted  its  weight  from  the  tired  shoulders,  for 
half  a  minute  or  so,  once  every  ten  minutes.  At  the  end 
of  every  three  miles  these  lifting  men  and  the  others 
changed  places,  and  so  we  easily  made  thirty  miles  or 
more  every  day,  without  much  fatigue  on  the  part  of  these 
hardy  men,  whose  profession  this  had  been  for  years. 

I'm  afraid  they  were  a  very  rough  set  of  customers, 
and  undoubtedly  got  us  into  trouble  on  more  than  one 
occasion.  They  were  full  of  fun  and  spirits,  and  told  long 
and  fishy  yarns,  to  the  country  folks,  and  occasionally 
played  off  practical  jokes  on  these  simple  swains,  to  be- 
guile the  tedium  of  the  road.  They  aroused  the  awe  and 
admiration  of  the  natives  in  the  country  villages,  by  tell- 
ing them  what  wonderful  things  we  carried  in  our  packs. 
There  was  nothing,  according  to  them,  that  we  could  not 
do,  or  had  not  got.  "Why,  even  a  boat,"  said  they,  "is  in 
that  trunk.  It  folds  up  very  small,  but  one  blows  into  it, 
and  it  gradually  grows  hard  and  large,  and  lo!  a  boat." 
Thus  was  magnified  our  rubber  bath  tub.  That  we  fin- 
ished our  trip  with  so  little  difficulty  with  such  com- 
panions speaks  well  for  the  gentle  good  nature  of  the 
natives. 


TRAVELING   BY   CHAIR  37 

Of  course,  I  walked  as  much  as  possible,  but  many 
weary  miles  must  be  endured  in  the  chair,  with  its  tire- 
some jogging,  interrupted  regularly  with  an  upward  jolt 
of  several  inches.  The  ordinary  road  soon  came  to  be 
quite  tolerable,  but  when  the  bearers  in  the  half  light  of 
early  dawn  (or  worse  still,  the  evening,  when  tired  with 
a  long  day's  march)  picked  their  way  over  the  narrow 
foot-paths,  slippery  with  clay,  between  half-submerged 
rice  fields,  or  jumped  across  intervening  ditches,  the  rear 
man  going  wholly  by  faith,  I  must  say  it  was  not  easy  or 
pleasant. 

We  had  quite  a  little  train.  Mr.  Underwood  was  on  his 
horse,  with  a  mapoo  to  lead  and  care  for  it.  These  horses 
are  all  fed  on  a  hot  food  of  beans  and  chopped  hay,  and 
very  carefully  attended  to.  We  had  two  or  three  pack- 
ponies  which  carried  medicines,  tracts,  at  that  time  mostly 
Chinese,  which  only  scholars  could  read,  our  blankets  and 
bedding,  a  few  cooking  utensils,  and  foreign  food  and  our 
clothing.  The  question  of  money  and  changes  of  horses 
was  a  difficult  one,  but  it  had  been  solved  by  an  order 
from  the  Korean  Foreign  Office,  to  the  country  magis- 
trates, to  accept  our  receipt  for  any  amount  of  money  that 
we  might  need,  and  also  for  horses  in  exchange  for  ours, 
all  of  which  bills  we  were  to  pay  in  Seoul  on  our  return. 
The  money  was  so  extremely  bulky,  it  was  impossible  to 
take  more  than  a  couple  of  days'  supply  on  our  ponies. 
On  previous  trips  Mr.  Underwood  had  carried  large  lumps 
of  silver,  which  were  exchanged  in  the  towns  for  cash. 

The  little  inns  along  the  road  never  charge  for  rooms ; 
the  number  of  tables  of  rice  and  the  number  of  horses  fed 
are  usually  the  only  items  in  the  landlord's  bill.  In  addi- 
tion to  chair  coolies  and  mapoos,  we  had  a  young  Chris- 
tian helper,  a  cook,  and  a  kesu.  The  two  latter  left  us  at 
Pyeng  Ya.ng  and  returned  home. 


CHAPTER   III 

We  Start  on  our  Wedding  Journey — Songdo — Guards  at  our 
Gates — Crossing  the  Tai-tong — Difficulties  in  Finding  an 
Inn — Korean  Launderings — An  Old  Man  Seeks  to  be  Rid  of 
Sin — Mob  at  an  Inn — A  Ruffian  Bursts  Open  my  Door — 
Fight  in  the  Inn  Yard — Pat  Defies  the  Crowd — Convenience 
.  of  Top-knots — A  Magistrate  Refuses  to  Shelter  Us — The 
"Captain"  to  the  Rescue — Pack-ponies — We  Lay  a  Deep 
Scheme — Torch  Bearers — A  Mountain  Hamlet — Tiger  Traps 
— Tigers — A  Band  of  Thirty  Conspire  to  Attack  Us — Guns 
Used  by  Native  Hunters — A  Tiger  Story. 

We  started  on  our  trip  at  early  dawn,  turning  directly 
north,  on  the  road  passing  under  the  arch,  which  then 
marked  the  spot  where  the  representatives  of  Korea  yearly 
met  the  Chinese  ambassadors  who  came  to  receive  tribute. 
This  custom  was  maintained  until  Korea's  independence 
was  declared ;  in  honor  of  which  the  old  arch  was  then 
taken  down  and  a  finer  one  erected.  Beyond  this  arch 
lay  the  pass,  a  narrow,  muddy  and  stony  way,  leading 
through  the  mountain.  It  was  crowded  with  oxen  and 
pack-ponies,  going  to  and  from  Seoul.  Shouting  mapoos 
and  coolies  added  to  the  confusion,  great  rocks  seemed 
just  ready  to  fall  from  above  and  crush  the  unlucky 
passers,  and  many  which  had  fallen  from  time  to  time  im- 
peded the  road.  Now  a  fine  road  has  been  made  across 
the  hill,  and  the  old  way  of  danger  and  discomfort  is 
closed  up.  From  its  darkness,  its  fiendish  noises,  grue- 
some odors  and  bad  going  it  would  not  have  been  an  unfit 
image  of  Bunyan's  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.  The 


A    KOREAN    INN  39 

snow  still  remained  in  sheltered  places,  for  it  was  only 
March,  and  the  morning  air  was  sharp  and  chill,  but  we 
found  a  very  fine  road  all  the  way  to  Songdo. 

We  made  our  first  halt  at  noon,  at  a  small  village  be- 
tween Seoul  and  Songdo,  and  I  had  my  first  experience 
of  a  native  inn.  The  Korean  inn  is  second  only  in  filth, 
closeness,  bad  odors  and  discomfort  to  those  in  the  in- 
terior of  China.  There  is  usually  only  one  room  for 
women,  which  has  from  one  to  four  or  five  paper-covered 
doors  or  windows — they  are  nearly  always  the  same  size 
and  bear  the  same  name — opening  into  the  kitchen,  the 
court  and  the  sarang.  This  room  is  often  not  more  than 
eight  by  ten  or  twelve  feet  large,  and  very  low.  The 
paper  which  covers  the  door  is  commonly  blackened 
with  dirt,  so  that  few  indeed  are  the  rays  of  light  which 
manage  to  struggle  in  a  disheartened  way  into  these 
gloomy  little  apartments.  They  boast  little  or  no  furni- 
ture, perhaps  a  chang  or  Korean  cabinet  (most  unique  and 
antique-looking  chests,  much  ornamented  with  brass  or 
black  iron  hinges,  locks,  etc.)  stands  against  the  wall, 
upon  which  are  piled  a  great  many  bright-colored  quilts 
and  pillows,  not  the  wooden  ones  sometimes  described 
and  much  used,  but  like  old-style  long  sofa  pillows,  and 
very  much  more  comfortable.  At  the  center  of  the  ceil- 
ing, just  under  the  roof  tree,  may  be  seen  a  bunch  of  dirty 
rags,  feathers  and  sticks,  where  the  household  Lares  and 
Penates  are  supposed  to  roost.  A  harrow  or  charcoal 
fire-pot  with  a  smouldering  fire  probably  stands  some- 
where on  the  floor.  This  should  be  promptly  removed, 
as  its  presence  often  causes  severe  headache,  and  some- 
times asphyxia,  from  which  one  of  the  missionaries  was 
only  resuscitated  after  repeated  fainting  and  hours  of 
effort  on  the  part  of  a  companion. 

In  most  of  the  inns  very  picturesque  tall  brass  or 


40        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

wooden  lamp-stands  are  seen.  They  consist  of  a  rod 
about  two  and  a  half  feet  high,  on  a  good  solid  base  with 
a  little  bracket  at  the  top  for  a  saucer  of  castor  oil,  and 
an  ox  horn  hanging  below  containing  the  main  supply  of 
oil.  The  lamp  or  saucer  contains  a  small  wick  which 
yields  a  very  tiny  light,  just  enough  to  emphasize  and 
make  visible  the  darkness.  Often  these  lamps  have  a 
special  niche,  or  little  cupboard  in  the  wall,  where  they 
are  enclosed  during  the  day.  Nearly  always  a  stout  bar 
crosses  the  room  about  a  foot  from  the  wall,  and  three  or 
four  feet  from  the  floor,  on  which  garments  may  be  hung, 
and  as  commonly  there  is  a  wide  shelf  running  around 
two  or  three  sides  of  the  apartment,  very  near  the  roof,  on 
which  are  sundry  household  utensils,  winter  vegetables, 
very  likely  piles  of  yeast  cakes  for  the  manufacture  of 
beer,  and,  in  fact,  a  heterogeneous  collection,  too  numer- 
ous and  varied  to  mention.  Here  lies  a  dusty  old  book, 
there  a  work  basket,  and  further  on  the  wooden  block 
and  clubs  used  for  ironing,  a  bottle  of  medicine,  a  pile  of 
rice  bowls,  or  a  box  of  matches. 

The  mats  which  are  placed  over  the  oiled  paper,  or  more 
likely  directly  on  the  earth  floor,  are  full  of  dust  and 
vermin  of  all  descriptions,  which  run  riot  everywhere. 
It  is  best  not  to  begin  to  think  how  many  people  have,  in 
that  room  and  lying  on  these  identical  mats,  been  ill,  and 
died,  of  dysentery,  small-pox,  cholera  or  typhus  fever, 
since  the  room  was  even  swept  or  the  mats  once  shaken. 
A  "really  truly"  cleaning  they  are  ignorant  of.  Fumiga- 
tion and  disinfection  are  as  far  beyond  the  flights  of  their 
wildest  imagination  as  the  private  life  of  the  man  in  the 
moon.  The  miracle  over  which  we  never  cease  to  wonder 
and  admire  is  that  so  many  people  of  clean  antecedents 
who  travel  through  the  interior  are  able  to  resist  the 
microbes,  bacteria,  germs  and  all  similar  enemies 


HOTEL   ACCOMMODATIONS  41 

under  whatsoever  name  which,  according  to  all  mod- 
ern science,  ought  to  attack  and  destroy  them  in  short 
order. 

In  most  of  the  inns,  tall  earthen  jars,  from  two  to  three, 
or  rarely  four  feet  high,  and  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter, 
in  which  AH  Baba's  cutthroat  thieves  could  easily  hide,  are 
ranged  along  the  side  of  the  wall,  but  more  frequently  in 
the  courtyard.  They  contain  various  kinds  of  grain, 
pickles,  beer,  wine,  and  there  are  always  several  holding 
kimchi  (a  sort  of  sauerkraut),  without  which  they  never 
eat  rice. 

Numbers  of  dogs,  cats,  chickens,  pigs  and  ducks  are 
under  foot  in  the  courtyard,  oxen  and  ponies  are  noisily 
feeding  in  the  stalls,  under  the  same  roof  with  ourselves, 
only  just  outside  the  paper  door,  and  if  one  is  to  sleep  it 
must  be  in  spite  of  a  combined  grunting,  squealing,  cack- 
ling, blowing  and  barking,  anything  but  conducive  to  re- 
pose. Most  of  the  hotels  have,  as  has  been  said,  only 
one  inner  room,  where  it  is  proper  for  a  woman  to  stay. 
Our  helper,  chair-coolies,  mapoos  and  other  travelers 
use  the  sarang,  packed  very  likely  like  sardines  in  a  box, 
and  the  host's  family  turn  out,  and  go  to  a  neighbor's  for 
the  night,  unless  the  inn  is  a  large  one  on  the  main  road. 
A  large  and  fashionable  inn  in  Korea  would  have  per- 
haps five,  or  even  six,  sleeping  apartments — though  I  do 
not  recollect  having  seen  so  many. 

Now  we  travel  with  cot-beds  which  roll  up  and  slip  into 
heavy  canvas  bags,  and  take  up  very  little  room  on  the 
pack.  These  blessings  keep  us  off  the  dirty  floors,  which 
are  usually  much  too  hot  for  health,  unless,  indeed,  one 
has  come  in  wet,  cold,  and  aching  from  a  long  tramp, 
when  they  are  a  specific  preventive  of  colds  and  rheuma- 
tism. On  that  first  journey,  however,  we  had  nothing  of 
this  sort,  but  we  sent  out  for  some  bundles  of  fresh  clean 


42        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

straw  used  for  thatch — one  thing,  at  least,  of  which  there 
is  plenty  in  every  village — and  piled  them  at  least  a  foot 
high.  We  spread  thereon  our  bed,  to  the  confusion  and 
defeat  of  our  little  enemies,  ploughing  their  weary  way 
uselessly  through  the  mazes  of  that  straw  all  night.  In 
this  way  we  slept  peacefully,  except  when  the  floor  became 
intolerably  hot,  and  our  bed  correspondingly  so,  then  we 
rose,  piled  our  straw  in  another  place,  remade  our  couch, 
and  composed  ourselves  again  to  slumber.  We  never  did 
this  more  than  three  times  in  one  night,  and  it  was  a  mere 
diversion. 

The  situation,  however,  develops  into  something  quite 
beyond  a  joke,  as  was  hinted  in  a  former  chapter,  when 
one  is  forced  to  travel  in  hot  weather.  The  rice  and  beans 
for  men  and  animals  must  be  cooked,  which  means — in 
nine  cases  out  of  ten — that  a  fire  must  be  built  under  your 
room,  and  you  must  sleep  on  the  stove,  although  the 
thermometer  is  already  in  the  seventies  before  it  is 
kindled.  The  room,  you  remember,  is  small  and  low,  the 
windows  opening  to  the  court  probably  few.  You  look 
longingly  at  the  open  porch  or  maru,  but  there  are 
leopards  and  tigers  that  prowl  at  night,  or  wanting  these, 
no  lack  of  rats,  ferrets,  and  snakes ;  there  are  foul  smells 
and  rank  poisonous  vapors,  pools  of  green  water  and  sew- 
age all  about,  a  famous  place  in  the  damp  night  air  to 
soak  a  system  full  of  malaria,  more  deadly  than  wild 
beasts ;  so  with  a  sigh  you  turn  again  to  your  oven,  pre- 
pared for  the  worst.  Up,  up,  steadily  climbs  the  ther- 
mometer, your  pulses  throb,  your  head  snaps,  you  gasp 
and  pant  for  breath,  and  at  length  toward  morning,  when 
the  fire  is  dead,  and  the  hot  stones  a  little  cooled,  you  fall 
into  an  exhausted  feverish  sleep.  But  an  early  start  is 
necessary  to  make  the  next  stage,  and  by  four  o'clock  at 
least  a  new  fire  is  built  to  cook  more  rice,  and  you  rush 


KUGUNGERS  43 

out  of  doors,  to  draw  a  whiff  of  pure  air  and  cool  your 
burning  temples. 

So  even  if  it  were  not  for  the  rains,  flooded  roads,  and 
overflowing,  unbridged  rivers,  we  should  not  travel  ex- 
cept from  dire  necessity  in  the  summer.  Tents  have  not 
been  found  practicable  among  the  missionaries  in  the 
rainy  season,  and  their  use  has  been  followed  in  several  in- 
stances by  severe  and  even  fatal  illness.  One  of  the  chief 
annoyances,  especially  on  this  our  first  trip,  at  the  inns 
were  the  kugungers  or  sightseers.  The  paper  doors  are 
speedily  made  available  as  peep-holes  for  the  foe.  From 
all  quarters  the  word  "foreigner,"  and  above  all  "foreign 
woman,"  spreads  like  wildfire.  Never  did  a  lion  or  an 
elephant  create  such  excitement  in  an  American  village. 
The  moment  we  entered  an  inn  the  house  was  instantly 
thronged,  besieged,  invested.  Every  door  was  full  of 
holes  made  by  dampening  the  finger  and  placing  it  with 
gentle  pressure  against  the  paper.  It  was  dismaying, 
when  we  fancied  ourselves  quite  alone,  to  see  all  those 
holes  filled  with  hungry  eyes.  Never  since  have  I  cared 
to  visit  a  show  of  wild  animals  or  human  freaks.  I  sym- 
pathize with  them  so  fully,  that  there  is  no  pleasure  in  the 
satisfaction  of  curiosity  at  such  a  cost.  We  wished  to 
meet  the  people,  but  we  could  not  talk  with  such  a  mob,  in 
any  satisfactory  way,  as  their  frantic  curiosity  about  us 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  attend  to  what  we  had  to 
tell  until  they  were  in  some  measure  satisfied.  But  to  re- 
turn to  our  trip. 

Some  twenty  miles  this  side  of  Songdo  the  road  crosses 
the  Imgin  river,  where  a  ferry  boat  is  in  readiness  to 
carry  the  traveler  and  his  belongings  to  the  other  side.  A 
story  is  told  here  of  the  patriotism  of  a  nobleman  who 
lived  in  a  magnificent  summer  house  on  the  bluff  over- 
looking the  river,  at  the  time  of  the  Hedioshi  rebellion. 


44        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

His  king,  fleeing  from  the  Japanese,  arrived  here  at  mid- 
night, and  to  light  him  and  his  escort  to  the  ferry  this  man 
set  fire  to  his  beautiful  home.  As  a  result  of  this,  the 
king  crossed  in  safety,  and  escaped  his  enemies.  In  token 
of  his  gratitude,  he  therefore  ordered  that  a  summer  house 
should  be  kept  perpetually  in  memory  of  his  loyal  friend 
on  the  site  of  the  one  which  had  been  sacrificed,  and  loaded 
him  with  honors  and  rewards. 

The  city  of  Songdo  is  one  of  the  largest  in  Korea,  and 
from  a  Korean  standpoint  probably  the  most  important 
commercially,  as  well  as  the  richest.  Here  is  grown  the 
ginseng,  so  highly  prized  by  Koreans,  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  and  sold — the  best — at  forty-five  dollars  a 
pound ;  more  than  its  weight  in  gold.  Though  Songdo 
was  formerly  the  nation's  capital,  a  successful  rebel  gen- 
eral, making  himself  king,  established  his  seat  of  govern- 
ment in  Seoul. 

We  arrived  in  this  ancient  city  about  sundown,  and 
shortly  afterwards  met  ten  Christian  inquirers.  In  a  few 
days  we  sold  all  our  books,  and  medicines,  which  we  ex- 
pected would  last  for  the  entire  trip,  and  had  to  send  back 
to  Seoul  for  more.  We  were  besieged  by  large  crowds  of 
people  during  our  stay,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to  ask  for 
a  guard  at  the  gate.  We  admitted  fifty  at  a  time,  and 
when  their  curiosity  had  been  sated,  their  diseases  treated, 
and  they  had  bought  as  many  books  as  they  wanted,  they 
were  dismissed,  to  make  room  for  another  pushing,  strug- 
gling, eagerly  curious  fifty.  Mr.  Underwood  baptized  no 
one,  but  met,  examined  and  instructed  inquirers,  and  di- 
rected and  corrected  his  native  helper's  work. 

Songdo  is  about  forty-five  miles  from  Seoul,  and  has 
about  two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Thus  far  the 
Southern  Methodists  are  the  only  ones  who  have  a  station 
there,  though  just  why  we  other  missionaries  never  started 


TAI-TONG    RIVER.        PACE    45 
FERRY      BOAT.        PAGE     43 


SONGDO  45 

work  in  so  important  a  center  it  would  be  hard  to  say ;  ex- 
cept that  it  did  not  seem  to  develop  there  at  first  as  promis- 
ingly, shall  I  say,  as  insistently,  as  in  some  other  places, 
where  need  was  so  pressing  we  never  could  obtain  work- 
ers enough  to  supply  the  demand,  far  less  start  new 
centers. 

Songdo  has  no  gates.  It  is  said  that  they  were  re- 
moved, with  the  privileges  as  well  of  the  Quaga,  because 
the  people  of  that  city  so  persistently  continued  to  despise 
and  treat  with  contempt  the  authority  of  Seoul.  Whereas 
it  is  the  custom  to  speak  of  going  .up  to  Seoul,  they  would 
refer  to  going  down  to  that  city ;  they  would  not  measure 
their  grain  from  right  to  left,  as  in  Seoul,  but  from  left  to 
right;  and  worst  of  all,  from  having  constantly  referred 
to  the  king  as  a  pig,  they  came  to  speak  of  a  pig  by  the 
king's  name! 

From  Songdo,  we  proceeded  north,  by  short  stages  to 
Pyeng  Yang,  which  was  the  next  place  of  importance, 
where  Mr.  Underwood  looked  for  inquirers  and  where 
there  were  already  a  few  Christians.  We  reached  the  Tai- 
tong  River,  which  lay  just  below  the  city  gates  between  us 
and  it,  in  a  driving  snow  storm.  Long  and  loudly  did  the 
various  members  of  our  party  try  their  lungs  in  the  effort 
to  obtain  a  boat,  but  at  length,  when  patience  was  quite 
exhausted,  the  ferryman,  or  one  of  them,  arrived  with  a 
great  flat-bottomed  boat,  which  accommodated  us  all — 
ponies,  packs,  coolies,  chair,  helpers  and  missionaries — and 
landed  us  in  mud  and  safety  on  the  other  side  for  a  few 
cash.  I  had  almost  forgotten,  however,  to  speak  of  the 
beautiful  road  leading  up  to  this  ferry,  with  its  noble 
overarching  trees  and  its  variety  of  beautiful  bushes  and 
flowers.  Even  at  that  bleak  and  wintry  season  it  was 
lovely,  and  a  month  later,  when  we  returned,  it  was 
charming,  with  its  green  woodland  shade  and  its  wealth 


46        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

of  sweet-scented  blossoms.  Now,  alas !  it  is  quite  shorn 
of  its  beauty,  for  during  the  Japanese-Chinese  war,  the 
trees  were  all  cut  down. 

We  were  no  sooner  within  the  city  gates  than  a  very 
noisy  and  constantly  increasing  crowd  followed  close  at 
our  heels,  growing  ever  more  annoying  and  demonstra- 
tive, till  its  dimensions  and  behavior  were  altogether  too 
much  like  a  mob.  Respectable  and  frightened  inn-keep- 
ers one  after  another  turned  us  from  their  doors  until  the 
uncomfortable  possibility  of  being  obliged  to  spend  the 
night  in  the  streets  suggested  itself.  However,  after  a 
time  we  found  a  refuge,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  policeman 
from  the  magistracy  we  managed  to  keep  the  mob  at  bay, 
seeing  only  a  stated  number  at  a  time,  as  in  Songdo.  It 
rained  during  most  of  our  stay,  and  I  could  with  no  com- 
fort or  safety  go  out  even  in  a  chair  to  see  the  town,  for 
if  I  so  much  as  peeped  out,  some  one  caught  sight  of  the 
foreign  woman,  and  at  once  a  crowd  gathered  which  made 
it  impossible  to  move  or  to  accomplish  anything.  Once 
before  we  left  I  accompanied  Mr.  Underwood  to  a 
pleasant  spot  outside  the  gates,  which  he  thought  would 
be  a  good  site  for  a  sub-station,  and  we  made  a  visit  to  the 
mother  of  one  of  our  Christians.  She  was  extremely  sick, 
and  as  she  recovered  not  long  after  we  were  very  happy  in 
having  left  a  good  impression  and  a  grateful  family  be- 
hind us. 

I  had  a  practical  illustration  of  the  inconvenience  of 
Korean  methods  of  laundry  in  this  town,  for  giving  out  a 
number  of  articles  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  Korean 
woman,  they  were  returned  minus  all  the  buttons.  They 
had  pounded  the  garments  on  a  stone  in  some  stream,  and 
as  a  precaution  had  removed  all  these  little  conveniences 
before  doing  so.  There  was  no  starch,  no  bluing,  and 
no  ironing.  Korean  clothes  before  ironing  must  be  ripped, 


KOREAN   LAUNDERING  47 

and  are  then  pounded  for  hours  on  a  smooth  piece  of 
wood  until  they  obtain  a  beautiful  gloss.  Koreans  are, 
however,  not  without  iron  irons.  They  have  quite  a  large 
one,  which  holds  hot  charcoal,  and  two  sorts  of  small  ones, 
not  more  than  half  an  inch  wide  by  two  or  three  inches  in 
length,  with  a  long  handle,  for  pressing  the  seams  of 
sleeves,  and  of  garments  which  it  is  only  desirable  to  press 
on  the  seam. 

After  a  stay  of  about  a  week  in  Pyeng  Yang,  during 
which  time  we  saw  a  great  many  visitors,  most  of  whom 
came  from  curiosity,  but  none  of  whom  went  away  with- 
out a  printed  or  spoken  word  about  the  gospel,  we  again 
started  out  on  our  journey  north.  Oh,  if  one  prophetic 
vision  might  have  been  granted  us  of  what  was  to  be  in 
such  a  few  years !  If  we  could  have  seen  those  dreary  and 
heart-sickening  wastes  of  humanity  transformed  into 
fields  of  rich  grain  waiting  in  harvest  glory  for  the  sickle, 
if  we  could  have  seen  the  hundreds  now  gathered  yearly 
into  the  garner,  how  our  hearts  would  have  burned  within 
us !  "But  the  love  of  God  is  broader  than  the  measure  of 
man's  mind,"  and  though  we  saw  visions  and  dreamed 
dreams,  we  hardly  dared  hope  they  would  all  be  fulfilled. 
God  kept  the  future  hidden  as  a  sweet  surprise.  Just  after 
leaving  this  city  an  old  man  of  seventy-six  came  three 
miles  to  inquire  of  us  "concerning  the  religion  by  which  a 
man  could  be  rid  of  sin,"  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  that  later 
harvest,  which  God  permitted  us  to  reap. 

Ernsan,  one  of  the  small  villages  at  which  we  spent  the 
night,  turned  out  to  be  a  very  rough  sort  of  place.  We 
were  obliged  in  many  of  these  towns  to  use  the  Foreign 
Office  letter  to  obtain  the  shelter  of  the  magistracies,  as 
often  the  inns  would  not  receive  us  or  would  prove  no 
defense  against  the  rudeness  of  the  curious  mobs,  and 
we  had  no  Christian  constituency  to  fall  back  upon.  At 


48        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

this  particular  place  the  magistrate  was  away,  and  the 
"chabin  duli"  (roughs)  were  not  under  ordinary  restraint. 

In  the  morning,  as  the  time  for  leaving  drew  near,  a 
crowd  of  about  one  hundred  men  and  large  boys  assem- 
bled in  the  little  courtyard  waiting  for  a  kugung  (sight) 
of  the  two  curiosities.  My  husband,  well  aware  that  a 
woman  who  permits  herself  to  be  viewed  by  strange  men 
is  not  respected  or  respectable  in  Korea,  had  my  chair 
brought  into  the  house,  and  the  door  closed,  so  that  I 
might  be  shut  in  there  and  pass  out  unseen.  On  finding 
themselves  thus  balked  of  perhaps  the  one  great  oppor- 
tunity of  their  lives  tr  behold  these  strange,  wild  animals, 
some  of  the  baser  fellows  could  not  restrain  their  curiosity, 
and  one  of  them,  probably  egged  on  by  the  others,  broke 
open  the  door  of  my  bedroom.  Than  this,  no  greater 
breach  of  law  or  propriety  is  recognized  in  the  land,  and 
the  guilty  wretch  is  amenable  to  almost  any  punishment 
the  injured  woman's  friends  may  choose  to  inflict.  My 
husband,  standing  near  the  door,  lifted  his  foot  as  the 
proper  member  with  which  to  express  his  sentiments — 
the  tongue  being  incapable  of  sufficient  vigor  and  the  hand 
too  good — and  this,  though  only  a  demonstration — the 
man  was  not  touched — was  sufficient  encouragement  to 
my  chair  coolies,  who,  considering  their  own  honor  bound 
up  with  mine  for  the  time  being,  rushed  forth  to  punish 
the  "vile  creature"  who  had  insulted  us  all. 

One  of  them,  a  brawny  fellow  whom  we  called  Pat, 
from  his  resemblance  to  gentlemen  of  the  nationality 
which  favors  that  name,  at  a  bound  had  singled  out  his 
prey  from  the  midst  of  the  crowd  and  dragged  him  forth 
from  his  encircling  friends  and  protectors. 

He  dragged  him  forth  in  the  usual  approved  Korean 
method,  under  such  circumstances,  by  the  top-knot,  a  very 
convenient  and  effective  handle,  for  a  man  once  in  the 


PAT    DEFIES    THE    CROWD  49 

grasp  of  his  enemy  in  this  way  is  practically  at  his  mercy. 
He  was  soon  on  the  ground  being  pummelled.  But  it 
must  be  remarked  that  we  were  but  a  little  party,  four 
coolies,  one  helper,  one  missionary,  one  woman,  and  they 
were  a  hundred  or  more  strong.  Our  calling  and  dearest 
hopes  forbade  our  using  severe  measures,  nor  would  they, 
even  firearms,  have  availed  for  long,  but  would  only  have 
served  to  make  enemies  for  us  on  all  sides,  supposing  we 
had  frightened  this  crowd  into  order.  So  it  behooved  us 
to  make  peace,  and  speedily,  for  there  were  black  looks 
and  angry  and  threatening  murmurings  as  the  friends  of 
the  culprit  drew  near,  preparing  to  defend  him. 

So  Mr.  Underwood  rushed  down  into  the  crowd,  drew 
off  our  exasperated  coolie,  and  quieted  the  rising  storm. 
But  Patrick  could  not  depart  without  giving  some  ex- 
pression to  his  indignation,  and  waving  his  chair  rod  like 
a  shillalah  in  the  air  around  his  head,  he  stood  at  the  top 
of  the  steps,  his  back  to  the  crowd  (the  pure  Korean 
method  in  quarrels),  vociferously  announcing  to  whom  it 
might  concern  his  opinion  of  such  actions  in  general,  and 
this  one  in  particular,  and  bidding  them,  in  the  spirit  of 
James  Fitz  James"  at  the  ford  to 

"Come  one,  come  all,  this  rock  shall  fly 
From  its  firm  base  as  soon  as  I." 

But  my  husband  saw  that  it  would  be  best  to  get  away 
while  we  could  without  exasperating  them  further,  and  be- 
fore the  temper  of  the  crowd  should  change  again  for  the 
worse.  A  similar  occurrence  in  either  China  or  Japan 
would  almost  certainly  have  ended  very  differently  for  us. 
The  Koreans  do  not  bear  malice,  nor  are  they  very  re- 
vengeful or  cruel  without  great  provocation.  We  merely 
had  to  do  with  a  rough  crowd,  who  gathered  thinking  we 


So        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

were  probably  a  base  sort  of  people ;  and  when  they  saw 
that  we  behaved  as  quiet,  decent  Koreans  would  do,  they 
respected  our  reserve  and  curbed  their  curiosity,  though  a 
few  boys  threw  stones  and  hooted,  and  they  all  followed 
us  a  few  rods  outside  the  village,  but  we  soon  found  our- 
selves peacefully  alone. 

Before  passing  on  I  must  say  a  few  words  on  the  gen- 
eral effectiveness  of  the  top-knot  method.  It  is  a  great 
pity  men  do  not  wear  their  hair  in  this  way  in  America. 
We  women  who  favor  women's  rights  would  soon  find  it 
a  mighty  handle  by  which  to  secure  them,  for  in  the 
hands  of  a  discerning  woman  it  is  indeed  an  instrument  of 
unlimited  possibilities.  Who  would  care  to  wield  a 
scepter  abroad,  who  could  wield  a  top-knot  at  home?  By 
one  of  these  well-tied  arrangements  have  I  beheld  a  justly 
irate  wife  dragging  home  her  drunken  husband  from  the 
saloon ;  and  firmly  grasping  this,  I  have  seen  more  than 
one  indignant  female  administering  that  corporal  punish- 
ment which  her  lord  and  master  no  doubt  richly  deserved. 
The  Korean  wife  stands  and  serves  her  husband  while  he 
eats,  she  works  while  he  smokes,  but  when  family  affairs 
come  to  a  certain  crisis,  she  takes  the  helm  (that  is  to  say, 
the  top-knot)  in  hand,  and  puts  the  ship  about. 

At  another  of  our  stopping  places  on  this  road  we  found 
a  magistrate  who  had  been  so  long  in  the  interior  and  who 
was  so  ignorant  and  illiterate  that  he  neither  knew  the 
uses  of  a  passport,  nor  could  read  it  when  presented. 
This  was  serious,  indeed,  for  here  with  a  rough  and 
curious  crowd  to  be  refused  the  shelter  of  the  magistracy 
might  mean  our  being  subjected  to  mob  violence,  and 
would  almost  certainly  insure  our  passing  the  night  on  the 
road.  Here  we  must  exchange  exhausted  pack-ponies  for 
fresh  ones,  here  we  must  obtain  money  for  the  next  stage, 
and  food  and  fire  for  our  tired  coolies  and  ourselves.  So 


THE  "CAPTAIN"  TO    THE   RESCUE  51 

when  our  helper  returned  with  the  disquieting  news  that 
the  magistrate  would  none  of  us,  "the  captain"  donned 
his  harness,  and  passport  in  hand,  strode  into  the  presence, 
gesticulated,  I  am  afraid,  stamped,  waved  the  passport  in 
the  air,  flung  it  to  the  ground,  and  by  dint  of  noise  and 
vehemence  succeeded  in  impressing  the  astonished  little 
official  with  a  sense  of  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the 
Foreign  Office  passports  in  the  hands  of  strenuous  West- 
erners. 

He  promptly  and  politely  gave  us  rooms,  money,  ponies, 
everything  we  needed,  in  order  to  rid  himself  of  us  and 
our  arguments,  I  suppose,  and  no  doubt  he  still  recalls  us 
as  the  most  remarkable  and  alarming  intruders  who  ever 
disturbed  his  quiet  and  uneventful  life. 

But  although  sheltered  by  the  magisterial  walls  our  an- 
noyances were  not  over.  Word  had  been  passed  far  and 
near  of  the  arrival  of  foreigners,  and  the  crowds  gathered 
thicker  and  thicker.  They  were  only  rude  and  good- 
naturedly  curious,  but  curiosity  is  a  strange  passion  when 
really  aroused,  as  only  those  who  have  been  its  victims 
know.  Men  will  travel  miles,  will  undergo  unheard-of 
fatigues  and  surmount  great  difficulties,  and  will  pay  very 
little  regard  to  the  convenience,  comfort  or  even  safety  of 
those  who  try  to  oppose  them  in  their  desires  to  gratify 
this  passion. 

Aware  that  we  were  besieged,  we  hung  shawls  and  rain 
coats  round  the  room,  before  the  doors  and  windows, 
hoping  to  prevent  the  usual  peep-show  made  by  perfo- 
rating fingers,  and  thus  fortified,  seated  ourselves  in  front 
of  our  trunk,  which  served  for  a  table,  to  partake  of  our 
meal  during  the  short  respite  thus  gained.  A  smothered 
titter  made  us  look  quickly  around.  Long  slender  rods  had 
been  pushed  through  the  peep-holes,  the  curtains  lifted, 
multitudes  of  eyes  applied  to  new  holes,  and  we  were 


52        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

well  in  view.  I  must  honestly  confess  that  in  some 
of  these  baffled  moments,  in  the  hot  fire  of  the  enemy's 
ungenerous  triumph,  I  have  thought  with  glee  of  the 
execution  which  could  be  done  with  a  syringe  well  aimed 
at  those  eye-filled  holes,  if  we  were  just  common  travelers 
and  not  longing  to  win  all  hearts  and  ready  to  bear  all 
such  small  annoyances  with  patience  for  the  love  of  these 
poor  people,  even  the  most  annoying  of  them.  And  now 
that  I  am  more  fully  seasoned,  I  endure  these  rude  in- 
trusions into  my  privacy  with  more  sang  froid,  excusing 
and  understanding  it. 

About  this  stage  in  our  journey  our  provisions  ran  very 
low,  and  among  other  things  sugar  gave  out.  Natives 
do  not  have  this  article  of  food,  but  we  were  able  to  get 
the  Korean  buckwheat  honey,  than  which  I  have  never 
tasted  any  more  delicious,  and  we  found  that  it  improved 
the  flavor  of  the  finest  tea. 

Here  in  these  far  recesses  of  the  interior,  where  we 
were  uncertain  of  the  temper  of  the  people,  and  where 
many  more  than  doubtful  characters  were  known  to  be  in 
hiding,  the  magistrates  thought  it  necessary  to  send  at 
least  one,  sometimes  two,  officials  with  us. 

At  the  town  of  Huiju  we  found  the  scenery  growing 
quite  wild,  the  hills  rising  into  mountains  (though  not 
very  high  ones),  the  road  zig-zagging  up  and  up,  while  a 
brawling,  hurrying  brook  ran  noisily  below.  Here  we 
found  the  first  spring  flowers  under  the  lingering  snow, 
and  above  the  snow  were  butterflies  darting  about  in  the 
sunshine,  quite  sure  that  they  were  in  the  right  place, 
since  the  Father  sent  them,  even  though  it  did  look  a 
little  cold  and  bleak;  and  then  if  one  only  looked  up,  there 
was  the  sun.  Just  here  in  the  steepest,  dizziest  and  most 
difficult  part  of  the  ascent,  two  of  those  poor  little  pack- 
ponies  which  I  had  been  pitying  all  along  for  the  terrible 


OUR   PACK-PONIES   FIGHT  53 

way  their  relentless  mapoos  overloaded  them,  began  fight- 
ing (loads  and  all),  and  after  kicking  each  other  in  the 
liveliest  fashion  for  some  time,  squealing  like  little  fiends, 
while  the  poor  mapoos  were  dancing  and  vociferating 
around  them  trying  to  bring  about  a  truce,  they  finally 
scampered  off  in  different  directions,  and  then  and  there 
my  heart  hardened,  and  never  since  has  pity  for  these 
animals  entered  it.  They  are,  I  firmly  opine,  as  self-willed, 
spoiled,  obstinate,  quarrelsome,  uncertain,  tricky  and 
tough  little  beasts  as  ever  carried  a  load. 

Among  many  other  people  treated  at  this  little  village, 
a  woman  came  sixteen  miles  for  medicine,  and  carried 
away  as  well  the  news  of  the  Great  Physician.  Thus  the 
mission  to  the  body  proves  effective  to  the  soul,  and  the 
seed  is  scattered  far  and  wide.  How  that  little  seed 
prospered  He  only  knows  who  has  promised  that  those 
who  cast  it  upon  the  water  shall  find  it  after  many 
days. 

Here,  after  we  had  eaten  our  supper,  Mr.  Underwood 
and  I  conceived  a  deep  scheme  to  escape  the  stuffy  little 
cage-like  room  and  take  a  walk  by  moonlight  in  the  midst 
of  that  lovely  scenery.  It  would  of  course  be  futile  to  go 
out  of  the  gate,  for  then  the  alarm  would  be  given,  and  we 
should  be  hounded  by  the  entire  able-bodied  portion  of 
the  populace.  But  the  wall  was  low,  and  waiting  till  we 
supposed  every  one  had  retired  for  the  night,  we  stealthily 
crept  like  a  couple  of  criminals  out  of  our  quarters,  sur- 
mounted the  wall,  and  were  at  last  free,  and  for  once 
alone,  away  from  staring  eyes,  to  enjoy  the  sweet  air  and 
each  other's  company.  But  alas!  we  had  hardly  gone 
twenty  paces  when  a  Korean  cur  (than  which  only  a 
Korean  pig  is  more  detestable)  espied  or  nosed  us,  and 
at  once  set  up  a  loud  and  continuous  bark.  We  hurried 
on,  hoping  to  escape,  but  it  was  not  to  be ;  one  white  form 


54        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

after  another  appeared  at  the  doorways,  soon  a  quickly 
swelling  stream  of  people  were  in  our  wake,  and  the  game 
was  up.  We  returned  and  retraced  our  steps,  attended  by 
a  long  retinue,  entered  by  the  gate,  and  hid  our  discom- 
fiture within  the  walls  of  our  little  dungeon. 

From  Huiju  our  road  led  up  farther,  over  a  still  higher 
mountain,  and  here  we  were  provided,  according  to  the 
conditions  of  our  passport,  with  oxen  instead  of  ponies  to 
carry  our  loads  (being  stronger  and  surer  footed),  and 
also,  as  for  all  travelers  belated  and  overtaken  by  darkness, 
torches  of  blazing  pine  knots  or  long  grass  carried  by 
some  of  the  villagers  to  a  certain  distance,  where  it  was 
the  business  of  others  to  meet  us  with  new  ones.  The 
men  who  provide  the  oxen  and  torches  are  given  the  use 
of  certain  fields  by  the  government  in  payment  for  such 
services,  but  often  they  are  unfaithful.  The  belated 
traveler  pounds  long  at  their  gates  in  vain.  Some  neigh- 
bor appears  to  say  the  man  is  sick  or  away.  At  length, 
when  a  reward  has  been  given,  and  when  patience  has  not 
only  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  but  ceased  to  exist  at  all,  he  or 
his  wife  appears  and  deliberately  prepares  the  long-de- 
sired torch. 

On  the  other  side  of  this  mountain,  as  we  descended 
into  the  valley,  we  found  a  village  which  presented  a  very 
different  aspect  from  any  we  had  yet  seen.  The  houses 
were  not  made  of  a  basket  work  of  twigs  filled  in  with 
mud,  like  the  ordinary  native  dwellings,  but  of  heavy  logs. 
The  little  compounds  surrounding  each  house  were  en- 
closed with  high  fences  made  of  strong  timbers,  each 
sharpened  to  a  point  at  the  top  and  firmly  bound  together, 
instead  of  the  usual  hedge  of  blossoming  bushes  or  tile- 
covered  mud  wall.  It  all  looked  as  if  these  farmers  and 
foresters  were  prepared  for  a  siege,  but  from  what 
enemy  ? 


TIGER   TRAPS  55 

There  were  no  Indians  or  wild  tribes  here.  It  was  a 
most  picturesque  place.  The  mountains  rose  grandly 
above  us,  all  around  were  woods,  and  a  beautiful  stream 
rippled  along  between  them  and  the  village.  It  was  a 
glorious  moonlit  night,  the  atmosphere  seemed  fairly  to 
sparkle  with  brilliancy.  Again,  after  supper,  we  prepared 
to  take  a  walk.  Few  indeed  had  been  our  opportunities 
for  such  honeymoon  observances  as  this,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  peculiar  privilege  and  bounden  duty  of  all 
the  good  newly  married.  As  has  been  noted  already,  the 
large  crowds  which  watched  our  every  movement,  and 
from  whose  observation  not  the  smallest  motion  was  lost, 
precluded  any  such  folly  on  our  part,  but  here,  far  off  in 
the  wild  recesses  of  the  woods  and  mountains,  in  a  village 
whose  inhabitants  seemed  nobly  exceptional  in  the  praise- 
worthy habit  of  keeping  at  home,  here  we  might  wander 
at  will,  in  the  enchanting  light,  listening  anon  to  the 
silvery  cadences  of  the  stream.  So  we  sauntered  along  in 
the  most  approved  fashion  of  honeymooners  until  a  few 
steps  beyond  the  confines  of  the  village,  where  woods 
closed  in  on  all  sides. 

We  had  observed  here  and  there  as  we  passed  along 
what  looked  like  a  sort  of  huge  pen  made  of  logs, 
weighted  with  great  stones  on  top,  strangely  constructed, 
as  if  for  the  housing  of  some  large  animal.  Now  as  we 
stood  on  the  edge  of  the  brook  trying  to  decide  whether 
to  cross  into  the  woods,  a  sound  as  of  heavy  and  yet 
stealthy  footsteps  on  the  dry  leaves  in  the  shadow  of  the 
trees  arrested  our  attention.  An  uncanny  mystery  seemed 
to  hang  over  everything.  Slightly  startled  by  the  sound, 
we  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the  pens  we  had  seen  must 
be  tiger  traps,  that  this  was  a  famous  tiger  tramping 
ground  (they  would  naturally  come  to  the  brook  to 
drink),  that  the  enemy  against  whom  the  village  was  so 


56       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

strongly  fortified  were  these  beasts  of  prey,  and  that  it 
would  be  in  every  way  profitable  to  us  to  postpone  our 
moonlight  rambles  for  some  more  propitious  time  and 
place.  So  with  a  less  lover-like  and  more  business-like 
pace  we  returned  to  the  prosaic  but  welcome  shelter  of 
the  huts. 

Korean  tiger  skins  are  very  fine  when  the  animal  has 
been  killed  in  the  winter,  but  unfortunately  the  natives  do 
not  understand  the  proper  method  of  preserving  them, 
and  those  which  are  taken  away,  as  well  as  the  leopard 
skins,  very  soon  become  denuded  of  hair.  The  natives 
prize  the  claws  very  highly,  and  often  remove  them  as 
soon  as  the  beast  is  killed.  They  are  found  from  the 
Manchurian  border  through  the  whole  country,  among 
the  mountains ;  more  than  once  have  they  been  seen  in  the 
capital  since  my  arrival,  and  only  a  few  months  after  I 
landed  a  leopard  was  seen  in  the  Russian  legation  com- 
pound next  to  our  house.  As  our  homes  were  all  bunga- 
lows, and  the  extreme  heat  of  summer  nights  necessitated 
open  windows,  I  often  lay  awake  after  this  for  hours 
at  night,  certain  that  I  heard  the  stealthy,  heavy  tread 
and  deep  breathing  of  one  of  these  creatures  in  my 
room. 

But  to  return  to  our  experiences  in  the  tiger  valley, 
which  were  not  yet  done.  While  Mr.  Underwood  and  I 
were  having  our  evening  prayers  together  we  heard  in 
the  valley  below  us  the  sharp  report  of  a  gun.  The  house 
in  which  we  were  was  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  while  our 
servants'  quarters,  and  indeed  most  of  the  village,  was  in 
the  valley  just  below.  Shortly  some  one  came  running  to 
tell  us  that  a  tiger  had  just  been  shot.  This  was  slightly 
exciting,  but  turned  out  later  to  have  been  a  mere  excuse 
to  quiet  any  alarm  I  might  have  felt  on  hearing  the  ex- 
plosion of  the  gun. 


A    BAND    OF   ROBBERS  57 

The  real  facts  were,  it  seemed,  that  a  band  of  some 
thirty  men,  probably  fugitives  from  justice,  and  robbers, 
had  conspired  to  visit  us  that  night  at  midnight  and  de- 
stroy the  vile  foreigners  who  had  dared  to  intrude  into  the 
sacred  precincts  of  this  mountain  land,  and  thus  warned, 
no  more  strangers  should  trouble  their  shores.  They  had 
drunk  together  to  the  success  of  their  plot,  and  the  leader 
had  rather  overdone  this  part  of  it.  Far  gone  in  intoxica- 
tion, he  had  been  too  much  fuddled  to  keep  to  the  plan, 
had  come  several  hours  in  advance  of  the  time,  had 
loudly  boasted  in  the  little  inn  of  their  intentions,  and 
fired  his  gun  in  a  fit  of  bravado.  At  the  command  of  the 
head  of  the  village  he  was  immedately  seized  and  locked 
up  and  his  gun  taken  away.  It  was  a  poor  old-fashioned 
affair,  arranged  with  a  long  fuse  wound  around  the  bear- 
er's wrist,  lighted  when  ready  to  fire,  and  inserted  in  an 
arm  held  up  by  the  trigger,  the  pulling  of  which  raised  and 
removed  a  small  cap  which  protected  the  priming  powder 
and  dropped  the  fuse  upon  it,  thus  firing  the  gun.  It  is 
with  these  awkward  and  clumsy  weapons  that  the  cool 
Korean  hunters  face  and  shoot  the  most  formidable 
leopards,  tigers,  wild  boars  and  bears  which  abound  in  the 
mountains  of  Korea.  The  Korean  nobles  use  tiger  and 
leopard  skins  on  their  carrying  chairs,  and  the  teeth  and 
claws  for  ornaments,  while  the  bones,  when  ground  up, 
are  supposed  to  be  unrivalled  as  a  tonic. 

Many  are  the  tiger  stories  told  by  Koreans ;  their  folk- 
lore abounds  with  them.  One  very  brief  one  is  all  I  have 
time  to  insert.  Once  upon  a  time  a  fierce  tiger  crept 
stealthily  into  a  village  in  search  of  prey.  But  every  one 
was  in  bed,  the  cattle  and  pigs  well  guarded  behind  pali- 
saded walls,  not  a  child,  a  dog,  or  even  a  chicken  lingered 
outside.  He  was  about  to  retire  in  despair  of  finding  a 
supper  there  when  he  spied  through  the  small  aperture  at 


58        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

the  bottom  of  a  gate,  such  as  is  found  in  all  gates  for  the 
egress  of  dogs  and  cats,  a  small  and  trembling  dog.  His 
majesty  tried  in  vain  to  squeeze  through  this  hole,  and 
finding  it  hopeless,  took  a  careful  survey  of  the  wall.  It 
was  high,  it  is  true,  and  sharply  spiked,  but  sharply  set  too 
was  the  royal  appetite,  and  he  resolved  to  try  the  leap, 
after  carefully  reckoning  the  height  to  be  surmounted  and 
his  own  strength.  He  was  a  great  agile  fellow,  and  with 
the  exertion  of  all  his  might  he  jumped,  barely  escaping 
the  spikes,  and  landed  safely  inside  the  enclosure,  quite 
ready  for  his  supper,  well  aware  that  he  must  snatch  it 
quickly  and  be  gone  ere  the  hunter  in  the  cottage  should 
espy  and  shoot  him.  But  puppy  had  gathered  his  tail  be- 
tween his  legs,  and  with  loud  and  long  kiyies  had  slipped 
through  the  opening  to  the  outer  side  of  the  wall.  Nothing 
remained  for  our  hungry  prowler  but  to  try  another  leap, 
only  to  find  that  his  supper  had  again  given  him  the  slip. 
Alas,  that  his  brains  were  not  equal  to  his  perseverance 
and  industry!  I  grieve  to  be  obliged  to  relate  that  this 
greedy  fellow  vaulted  back  and  forth  in  pursuit  of  his 
meal,  his  anger  and  appetite  growing  with  every  leap, 
until  he  died  of  exhaustion  and  fell  an  ignominious  prey 
to  his  small  and  elusive  foe,  illustrating  the  fact  that 
might  does  not  always  win  and  that  the  small  and  weak 
need  not  always  despair  in  the  contest  with  size  and 
strength. 

In  the  little  hamlet  where  we  met  the  adventure  with 
the  man  who  meant  to  kill  us  we  were  treated  to  fine  veni- 
son and  delicious  honey.  All  through  the  woods  we  found 
anemones  and  other  spring  flowers  and  saw  specimens  of 
the  beautiful  pink  ibis,  belonging  to  the  same  family  as  the 
bird  so  often  worshiped  in  Egypt.  On  the  road  hither 
and  all  around  us  we  saw  stacked  and  ready  for  sale 
cords  of  fine  dark  hard  woods,  of  which  we  did  not  know 


A   LAND   OF   TREES  59 

the  names,  but  much  of  which  looked  like  black  walnut. 
No  one  who  has  traveled  through  this  part  of  the  country 
could  possibly  say  there  was  a  dearth  of  trees  in  Korea, 
or  of  singing  birds,  or  sweet-scented  flowers,  or  gorgeous 
butterflies. 


CHAPTER   IV 

Leaving  Kangai — We  Choose  a  Short  Cut — Much  Goitre  in  the 
Mountains — A  Deserted  Village — The  Jericho  Road — We  are 
Attacked  by  Robbers — A  Struggle  in  the  Inn  Yard — Odds  too 
great — Our  Attendants  are  Seized  and  Carried  Off — The  Kind 
Inn-Keeper — Inopportune  Patients — A  Race  for  Life — A  City 
of  Refuge — A  Beautiful  Custom — Safe  at  Last — The  Magis- 
trate Turns  Out  to  be  an  Old  Friend — The  Charge  to  the 
Hunters. 

OUR  next  stopping  place  of  importance  was  the  town  of 
Kangai.  This  was  a  walled  city  of  between  ten  and 
twenty  thousand  inhabitants  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
province  of  Pyeng  An  Do.  Being  in  the  center  of  a  rather 
turbulent  and  independent  community,  at  least  at  that 
time — and  when  were  mountaineers  not  so? — and  quite 
near  the  Chinese  border,  its  governor  was  invested  with 
almost  provincial  authority,  had  a  large  number  of  sol- 
diers always  under  arms,  and  surrounded  himself  with 
the  greatest  possible  show  of  power  and  state,  having  a 
numerous  and  obsequious  body-guard,  a  gun  fired  when- 
ever he  left  his  office,  and  a  great  retinue  of  menials  and 
officials  who  constantly  attended  him.  He  told  us  that  all 
this  was  necessary  to  overawe  the  people  and  establish  his 
prestige  and  dignity.  He  was  a  relative  of  the  queen, 
and  I  had  met  him  at  the  palace. 

As  we  approached  the  city  and  about  three  miles  out- 
side of  it,  we  saw  in  the  distance  a  little  company  of  sol- 
diers with  flying  banners  and  sounding  trumpets,  await- 
ing us  apparently  at  the  foot  of  a  hill.  What  this  might 


A   MILITARY   ESCORT  61 

portend  we  were  at  a  loss  to  guess.  It  might  mean  fet- 
ters and  warder  for  intrusive  foreigners,  it  might  mean  an 
order  to  return,  it  might  might  mean  our  immediate  ex- 
tinction, but  so  kind  had  been  our  reception  everywhere, 
barring  sightseers,  that  we  did  not  entertain  any  serious 
misgivings,  although  greatly  puzzled  as  to  what  the 
demonstration  could  possibly  signify.  However,  we 
marched  right  up,  as  if  this  martial  array  concerned  us 
not  in  the  least.  As  soon  as  we  came  within  saluting  dis- 
tance the  leader  of  the  little  company  made  us  the  most 
profound  obeisance  and  announced  that  he  had  been  sent 
to  escort  us  to  the  city.  So  we  proceeded  with  this  rather 
cumbersome  addition  to  our  modest  suite,  and  not  only 
this,  for  small  boys  are  the  same  all  the  world  over,  and  a 
motley  throng  of  them,  attracted  both  by  the  soldiers  and 
the  circus  (or,  shall  we  say,  the  menagerie?),  closed  in 
around  us.  A  mile  farther  on  a  second  attachment  of  mili- 
tary, with  its  inevitable  corps  of  small  boys,  was  awaiting 
us,  and  on  we  went,  the  hubbub  ever  increasing,  drums 
beating,  trumpets  sounding,  flags  flying,  wooden  shoes 
clattering  over  the  stones,  louder,  it  seemed  to  me,  than  all 
the  rest,  as  I  cowered  in  the  shelter  of  my  closely  cur- 
tained chair. 

Momentarily  the  formidable  dimensions  of  the  crowd 
increased,  while  other  bands  of  soldiers  joined  us  at  inter- 
vals, for  which  I  was  devoutly  thankful,  for  while  the 
crowd  seemed  good-natured  and  simply  wildly  curious,  at 
the  same  time  we  were  strangers,  to  whom  Koreans  had 
the  reputation  of  being  inimical.  With  so  large  a  crowd 
a  small  matter  may  kindle  a  blaze  of  fury,  and  as  we  were 
rather  inexperienced  and  ignorant  of  the  character  of  the 
people,  I  felt  that  whatever  the  intentions  of  the  magis- 
trate might  be,  the  hand  of  the  responsible  official  would  be 
gentle  compared  with  the  hands  of  the  mob.  And  yet  look- 


62        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

ing  back  on  it  all  now,  in  the  light  of  all  that  has  since  oc- 
curred, it  was  not  altogether  inappropriate  but  in  a  way 
fitting,  that  the  first  heralds  of  the  gospel  and  the  advent 
of  Christianity  to  this  province  should  be  with  banners, 
trumpets  and  great  acclaim.  The  Kingdom  had  come,  if 
only  in  its  smallest  beginnings,  and  had  come  to  stay. 

The  wonder  of  it,  which  will  grow,  I  think,  more  and 
more  through  the  eternal  ages,  is  that  God  should  allow 
us,  his  poor  creatures,  to  share  with  him  in  a  work  far 
greater  than  the  creation  of  a  universe,  even  the  founding 
of  an  eternal  and  limitless  kingdom  of  holiness,  glory  and 
peace. 

But  to  return  to  our  noisy  procession.  Within  the  city 
the  noise  and  excitement  ("yahdan"  the  Koreans  would 
say,  and  nothing  expresses  it  so  well)  were  far  greater 
than  ever.  Dancing  girls  and  hoodlums  of  every  descrip- 
tion swelled  the  crowd,  laughing,  shouting,  pushing,  jost- 
ling. High  points  of  vantage  were  occupied  to  the  last 
inch  with  small  boydom,  booths  or  screened  seats  had 
been  rented  for  the  use  of  the  ladies,  and  the  streets  were 
hardly  passable.  I  shivered.  I  felt  like  a  mouse  in  the 
power  of  a  playful  tiger.  It  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  feel 
one's  self  the  object  of  desire — even  if  merely  in  a  sight- 
seeing way — of  thousands  of  strange  people.  Many  in 
that  crowd  had  come  more  than  ten  miles  to  behold  us. 
My  husband  to  protect  me  from  the  unpleasantness,  to  say 
the  least,  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  so  large  and  eager  a 
mob,  hastened  to  the  gates  of  the  magistracy,  quickly  dis- 
mounted and  bade  the  guards  be  ready  to  close  them  the 
instant  my  chair  had  entered.  This  was  promptly  done, 
the  gates  well  bolted  and  guarded,  and  proud  of  our  vic- 
tory over  the  small  boys,  we  hastily  retired  to  our  rooms. 
But  hark!  what  noise  was  that,  like  thundering  of  a 
waterfall,  or  of  a  river  dashing  away  its  barriers  ?  Alack ! 


AN   EPIDEMIC   OF   DISEASES  63 

it  was  the  boys.  They  had  scaled  the  wall  on  each  other's 
shoulders,  and  were  literally  pouring  over  it  into  the  com- 
pound. 

I  looked  around  the  little  room  for  some  means  of 
escape,  like  a  hunted  animal.  Its  windows  and  doors  were 
double,  the  inner  one  sliding  into  the  wall,  but  both  were 
composed  simply  of  a  light  frame  of  slender  sticks 
covered  with  stout  paper,  and  already  the  dancing  girls 
and  boys  were  tearing  away  the  outer  coat  preparatory  to 
forcing  an  entrance.  Suddenly  I  espied  a  small  door, 
which  I  found  opened  into  a  long  dark  closet,  full  of  the 
dust  and  dirt  of  unclean  centuries.  Hither  I  fled,  cower- 
ing in  its  farthest  recesses.  Those  who  looked  in  the  win- 
dows, and  saw  nothing  of  the  strange  animal  genus  Ameri- 
canus,  concluded  she  must  be  in  some  other  place,  and  so  a 
short  respite  was  granted,  which  Mr.  Underwood  and  the 
deputy  magistrate  made  good  use  of  in  guarding  our 
house  doors.  The  deputy  himself  was  obliged  to  take  his 
station  there,  and  threatening  with  awful  penalties  any 
soldier  who  should  permit  the  "chabin  duli"  (roughs  and 
crowd)  to  enter  uninvited.  Henceforth  during  my  stay  in 
that  town  I  was  comparatively  untroubled. 

A  very  epidemic  of  diseases,  however,  seemed  to  have 
smitten  the  place.  Every  one  needed  the  doctor,  and 
old,  almost  forgotten  complaints  were  resurrected  and 
rubbed  up,  or  if  none  existed  new  ones  were  invented  to 
furnish  an  excuse  for  an  introduction.  People  stood  in 
long  rows  from  morning  till  night  to  see  this  popular 
doctor,  and  had  I  been  medicining  for  money,  I  might 
have  charged  almost  any  price  and  filled  high  our  coffers ; 
but  I  was  only  too  glad  to  be  able  to  tell  them  of  the  great 
Physician,  whose  unspeakable  gift  is  without  money  or 
price. 

The  magistrate  treated  us  very  kindly,  and  one  day  made 


64        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

a  dinner  for  Mr.  Underwood  at  a  little  summer  house  out- 
side the  city.  Here,  after  partaking  of  various  Korean 
dainties,  he  asked  him  a  great  many  questions  about 
America  and  Americans.  My  husband  had  thus  a  fine 
opportunity  to  enlighten  the  man  on  our  own  mission  and 
work.  He  of  course  listened  politely,  but  the  Korean 
noble  is  very  difficult  to  reach.  He  is  bound  so  rigidly  by 
so  many  social,  religious  and  political  fetters,  that  he 
usually  will  not  allow  himself  to  consider  for  a  moment 
the  possibility  of  casting  them  off. 

We  were  much  disappointed  at  not  finding  here  any  of 
the  inquirers  of  whom  we  had  been  told  so  much,  and  to 
examine  and  instruct  whom  Mr.  Underwood  had  turned 
so  far  aside  from  the  main  road  to  his  final  destination, 
Weeju.  We  could  only  conclude  that  they  had  either  been 
too  shy  to  approach  us  in  the  public  quarters  in  which  we 
were  located  or  that  we  had  been  entirely  misinformed, 
and  we  were  forced  very  reluctantly  to  accept  the  latter  as 
a  fact. 

The  magistrate  sent  a  number  of  presents  to  us  ere  we 
left — a  box  of  cigars,  though  we  were  not  smokers,  an- 
other of  candied  Chinese  ginger,  honey,  flour,  beef,  vine- 
gar and  potatoes.  These  were  articles  which  they  found 
by  diligent  inquiry  from  our  attendants  that  we  were  fond 
of.  They  scoured  the  country  for  potatoes,  though  except 
in  the  mountains,  where  rice  will  not  grow,  few  Koreans 
cultivate  or  eat  them. 

On  leaving  Kangai  we  could  either  take  a  long  road 
around  the  mountains,  well  known  and  much  traveled,  or 
a  short  cut  through  and  over  them,  much  less  frequented, 
but  which  the  magistrate  assured  us  was  now  quite  safe, 
as  he  had  recently  passed  through  there  himself  and  be- 
lieved that  everything  was  now  quiet  and  orderly.  The 
locality  had  a  bad  reputation,  being  off  the  main  lines  of 


f\ 


AM*. 


CARRIER    OX.        PAGE    54 
THE   OX-CART   OR    TALGOOCY.        PACE    197 


IN    THE    MOUNTAINS  65 

travel  in  the  recesses  of  the  mountains,  where  escaped 
criminals  were  wont  to  hide,  and  where  a  band  of  robbers 
were  said  to  have  made  their  lair.  But  time  pressed,  work 
was  urgent,  the  magistrate's  statements  were  reassuring, 
and  we  decided  to  take  the  shorter  road.  We  were  pro- 
vided with  a  police  official  and  a  soldier,  who,  our  host 
told  us,  would  be  respected  and  feared,  and  our  entire 
safety  would  thus  be  assured. 

Our  road  on  leaving  Kangai  passed  directly  over  the 
mountains,  through  a  region  more  sparsely  populated  and 
more  wildly  beautiful  than  anything  we  had  yet  seen. 
There  were  a  few  stray  farms  where  sparse  crops  of  pota- 
toes were  raised,  but  the  mountains  hemmed  us  in  closely 
on  all  sides.  They  were  covered  with  magnificent  trees; 
here  and  there  a  woodcutter  was  seen  or  heard,  but  the 
evidences  of  human  life  were  few.  We  had  noticed  with 
interest  through  the  mountain  districts  a  large  number  of 
people  for  these  sparsely  settled  regions  who  were  afflicted 
with  goitre. 

At  night  we  reached  a  small  village  of  scarce  a  half 
dozen  houses,  established  by  the  government  as  a  place  of 
rest  for  travelers,  since  there  was  no  other  place  within 
convenient  marching  distance.  A  subsidy  was  given  in 
return  for  which  these  natives  were  bound  to  provide  re- 
freshments, horses,  oxen,  or  torches  for  those  who  bore 
passports  or  official  orders.  But  travel  was  rare  and 
they  had  come  to  consider  their  duty  a  tyrannical  exaction, 
their  subsidy  as  their  right ;  so  when  we  arrived  an  omi- 
nous silence  reigned  over  the  place,  and  we  found  it  had 
been  completely  deserted  and  that  not  long  since  every- 
thing had  been  dropped  and  the  people  had  fled  and  hid- 
den. This  inhospitable  reception  was  a  very  definite  sign 
of  ill  will,  a  plain  refusal  to  give  the  shelter  and  assistance 
they  were  so  well  paid  to  bestow.  Of  course  it  did  not 


66       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

auger  well,  but  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  for  the 
present  but  to  try  to  supply  our  needs.  Fires  were  built, 
horse  provender  found,  and  rice  for  coolies,  mapoos  and 
attendants  cooked,  while  for  ourselves  we  fared  well  on 
the  contents  of  our  box  of  stores.  Some  of  the  villagers 
returned  that  night  to  their  homes. 

Early  next  morning,  having  paid  for  what  we  had  used, 
we  started  away.  But  the  necessity  for  haste,  as  our 
stage  that  day  was  a  long  one,  and  our  want  of  suspicion 
of  any  serious  danger  led  us  into  making  a  mistake;  we 
divided  our  small  party,  Mr.  Underwood,  the  soldier  and 
myself  hurrying  on  ahead  on  what  we  afterwards  called 
the  Jericho  road,  leaving  helpers  and  constable  with  the 
pack-ponies  and  mapoos,  which  traveled  more  slowly,  to 
follow  at  a  distance  of  several  miles.  We  planned  to 
reach  our  noon  rest  place  early,  and  order  food  and  pro- 
vender (which  it  always  takes  an  hour  to  cook)  in  advance, 
so  that  all  might  be  ready  on  their  arrival  and  a  speedy  de- 
parture insured.  The  day  was  a  very  fine  one,  the  moun- 
tain air  exhilarating  and  delightful,  and  there  were  no 
sightseers,  so  that  Mr.  Underwood  and  I  walked  together 
a  long  distance,  laughing  and  chatting  and  gathering  the 
pretty  spring  flowers,  of  which  there  were  many,  especially 
the  sweet-scented  violets,  which  I  was  surprised  to  find 
growing  thus  wild  in  the  mountains.  We  arrived  early 
at  the  little  hamlet  which  was  our  destination,  and  were 
immediately  installed  in  the  one  tiny  inn  the  place  could 
boast. 

I  am  not  sure  how  much  time  elapsed  before  our  loads 
appeared,  but  it  was  not  very  long,  and  when  word  was 
brought  that  they  were  coming  my  husband  slipped  a 
small  revolver  (our  only  weapon)  from  our  traveling-bag 
into  his  pocket.  I  understood  too  little  of  the  language  to 
know  what  message  he  had  received,  but  he  told  me  that 


ATTACKED   BY   ROBBERS  67 

some  rough  fellows  were  coming  with  our  party  and  that 
there  might  be  trouble,  in  which  case  he  might  need  the 
revolver.  He  had  received  a  message,  while  on  the  way  to 
the  inn,  that  robbers  had  overtaken  our  people  and  were 
following  us.  It  seems  that  as  soon  as  we  were  out  of 
sight  a  number  of  men  had  overtaken  our  loads  and 
charged  one  of  our  mapoos  with  theft,  saying  that  they 
had  come  to  reclaim  their  stolen  property.  They  bound 
his  hands,  took  possession  of  our  ponies  and  loads,  and 
followed  us  to  our  inn.  I  peeped  out  through  a  crack 
where  the  door  stood  ajar,  and  saw  what  was  not  re- 
assuring, a  party  of  twenty  or  thirty  country  fellows, 
wilder  and  ruder  looking  than  any  I  had  yet  seen,  their 
hair  falling  in  matted  locks  around  their  evil  faces  instead 
of  being  fastened  in  the  usual  rough  top-knot,  and  their 
angry  eyes  fierce  and  bloodshot.  Each  carried  a  short 
stout  club,  and  they  were  all  shouting  in  angry  tones  at 
once,  while  our  mapoo,  his  hands  bound,  my  husband,  the 
constable,  soldier  and  helper  stood  in  the  midst  of  this 
wild  throng.  The  tiny  place  seemed  filled  with  the  men 
and  the  hubbub,  while  the  frightened  villagers  peeped  in 
at  the  gate  or  over  the  wall ;  our  brave  chair  coolies  had 
hidden  away,  for  which  we  were  later  extremely  thankful. 
The  attacking  party  with  loud  and  angry  voices  accused 
our  mapoo  of  having  stolen  their  money,  a  hat  and  a 
bowl ;  and  when  asked  for  evidence,  pointed  to  the  man's 
own  shabby  old  hat,  then  on  his  head,  to  a  rice  bowl, 
placed  on  top  of  the  packs  (he  said  by  their  hands),  and 
to  our  own  large  and  heavy  bag  of  Korean  cash,  fastened 
and  sealed  just  as  we  saw  it  placed  on  the  pony's  back  in 
the  morning.  They  refused  to  release  the  mapoo  unless 
these  things  were  delivered  up.  Mr.  Underwood  told 
them  that  the  hat  and  money  were  ours,  but  that  he  would 
go  with  them  before  a  Korean  magistrate  and  leave  the 


68       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

whole  matter  to  his  decision,  only  they  must  unbind  our 
mapoo.  This  they  would  not  hear  to  and  continued  to 
insist  on  our  giving  them  the  money.  My  husband  abso- 
lutely refused  to  do  this.  Meanwhile,  having  placed  him- 
self, with  the  brave  little  soldier  at  his  side,  in  a  narrow 
space  wide  enough  only  for  two,  between  the  wall  of  the 
compound  and  the  house,  he  bade  the  latter  cut  the 
mapoo's  bands.  The  mob  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  did 
so,  but  he  turned  to  Mr.  Underwood  and  said,  "Does  the 
great  man  bid  me  cut?"  and  receiving  the  affirmative 
reply,  he  at  once  cut  the  ropes  which  bound  the  mapoo. 
The  ruffians  made  a  rush,  but  Mr.  Underwood,  hastily 
pushing  the  mapoo  behind  him,  managed  with  the  aid  of 
the  soldier  at  his  side  in  that  narrow  place  to  push  one 
man  back  against  the  others  and  keep  them  off  for  some 
time. 

While  his  whole  attention  was  thus  engaged,  however, 
with  those  in  front,  some  of  the  party  found  a  way  to  the 
rear,  and  coming  up  quietly  behind,  suddenly  pinioned 
his  arms  back  and  held  him  helpless,  while  the  others  car- 
ried off  our  poor  mapoo  away  outside  the  village,  their 
voices  dying  away  in  the  distance.  In  the  awful  silence 
that  succeeded  the  uproar  we  waited  what  would  follow. 
After  what  seemed  an  age  of  suspense  they  returned  with- 
out the  man  and  seized  and  carried  off  our  constable. 
Again  that  fateful  silence,  that  agonizing  suspense ;  again 
another  raid,  and  our  other  mapoo  was  dragged  away.  If 
these  and  our  other  companions  had  shown  half  the  cour- 
age of  the  little  soldier  and  made  any  effort  to  defend 
themselves  and  us,  and  especially  had  the  chair  coolies 
stood  by  us,  the  ruffians  would  very  likely  have  been 
beaten  off.  As  it  was,  we  were  practically  helpless,  the 
only  question  was  who  was  to  be  attacked  next.  Mr. 
Underwood  was  very  doubtful  of  the  wisdom  of  pro- 


A    KOREAN    VILLAGE 


THE   ROBBER   BAND  69 

ducing  the  little  revolver  until  the  very  last  extremity. 
One  by  one  they  carried  away  the  members  of  our  party 
till  only  Mr.  Underwood,  the  little  soldier  and  I  were  left. 

We  learned  afterward  that  they  were  a  set  of  wild  men, 
many  of  them  fugitives  from  justice,  probably  an  organ- 
ized band  of  robbers,  into  whose  hands  we  had  fallen,  and 
the  fear  that  lay  like  ice  at  my  heart  was  that  when  all  our 
friends  and  defenders  were  one  by  one  removed  they 
would  carry  away  and  murder  my  husband  too.  So  I 
waited,  scarcely  breathing,  for  the  next  return.  What  I 
dreaded  they  did  in  fact  propose  to  do,  saying  it  was  the 
right  way  to  treat  foreigners.  They  said  they  had  robbed 
and  killed  a  Japanese  officer  some  years  ago,  and  having 
never  been  punished,  would  be  quite  safe  in  treating  us  in 
a  similar  way.  On  our  return  to  Seoul  we  found  by  in- 
quiry that  this  was  true,  that  while  the  government  had 
been  forced  to  pay  a  heavy  indemnity,  they  had  never  been 
able  to  identify  and  punish  the  murderers.  Had  we  been 
overtaken  before  we  reached  the  village  perhaps  our  fate 
would  have  been  that  of  the  Japanese ;  but  when  the  affair 
reached  this  point  the  villagers  interfered  and  forbade. 
They  said  they  had  allowed  them  to  carry  off  our  Korean 
servants  and  our  money,  but  should  we,  foreigners,  known 
at  the  palace  and  carrying  a  passport,  be  killed  there,  their 
village  would  have  to  bear  the  penalty,  and  we  must  be 
spared.  They  were  only  a  few  men,  but  probably  people 
who,  knowing  the  haunts  of  the  criminals  and  able  to 
identify  them,  had  them  to  some  extent  in  their  power. 
The  men  therefore  sullenly  filed  away,  or  at  least  most 
of  them.  One  or  two  of  the  fiercest  and  most  repulsive  still 
hung  about,  and  one  of  them  walked  into  my  room  (an 
insult  in  the  eyes  of  all  Koreans)  and  insolently  stared 
until  my  husband,  entering,  ordered  him  out. 

The  inn-keeper  was  a  little  man  not  five  feet  high, 


70        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

who  did  all  in  his  power  to  reassure  and  make  me  com- 
fortable, as  if  such  a  thing  were  possible  with  our  poor 
friends  in  distress,  if  not  dead,  and  our  own  fate  only  too 
uncertain.  It  was  twenty-five  English  miles  to  the  nearest 
magistracy,  and  doing  our  best,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
reach  it  that  night ;  but  we  knew  that  if  any  help  was  to  be 
had  for  the  captives  it  must  be  secured  at  once,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  we  had  no  assurance  of  safety  with  so  small 
a  party  until  within  the  walls  of  the  yamen.  So  it  was  de- 
cided to  start  as  soon  as  possible.  My  scared  chair  coolies 
had  sneaked  out  of  their  hiding  places  in  a  sufficiently 
well-preserved  condition  to  be  able  to  partake  of  a  hearty 
meal,  and  were  soon  ready  to  start.  My  husband  had  a 
Korean  pony  which  possessed  the  rare  virtue  of  kicking 
and  biting  every  one  who  attempted  to  touch  him,  except 
his  mapoo  and  his  master;  to  which  quality  we  were  in- 
debted for  his  being  left  us  that  day.  One  other  pony  we 
were  able  to  obtain,  but  as  it  of  course  could  carry  only 
our  rugs  and  bedding,  the  rest  of  our  belongings  we  were 
compelled  to  leave  behind. 

We  asked  the  host  to  take  them  into  his  house  and  take 
charge  of  them,  to  which  he  willingly  consented.  His 
son,  in  an  agony  of  terror,  begged  him  not  to  do  so,  as 
the  robbers  had  threatened  to  come  and  burn  down  his 
house  if  he  sheltered  either  us  or  our  goods.  The  stout- 
hearted little  fellow,  whose  soul  was  much  too  large  for 
his  body,  laughed  at  the  threat,  and  bidding  one  of  the 
very  men  who  had  attacked  us  give  a  lift,  he  carried  our 
trunks  into  his  house  and  said  he  would  take  good  care 
of  them  for  us  until  we  should  send  for  them.  In  the 
meanwhile  Mr.  Underwood  had  been  urging  me  to  eat, 
which  I  tried  in  vain  to  do,  as  a  large  lump  of  something 
hard  had  become  fixed  in  my  throat,  would  neither  go  up 
or  down  and  no  food  could  pass  that  way.  In  fact,  I  may 


INOPPORTUNE   PATIENTS  71 

as  well  admit  I  was  a  very  much  frightened  woman,  and 
my  whole  desire  was  to  run  away  as  fast  and  as  far  as 
possible  from  that  dreadful  locality.  It  sounds,  and  is, 
disgraceful,  but  as  this  is  a  narration  of  facts  it  may  as 
well  be  confessed.  My  chief  grief  was  that  we  must  leave 
our  poor  friends  behind.  That,  indeed,  seemed  cruel  and 
unthinkable,  yet  there  appeared  to  be  no  other  way  to 
relieve  or  help  them. 

Just  as  we  were  ready  to  start  two  or  three  country  peo- 
ple came  and  asked  for  medicines  for  trifling  complaints. 
Was  anything  ever  so  ill-timed?  Surely  we  could  not 
wait  then,  when  the  lives  of  our  poor  people  as  well  as  our 
own  perhaps  depended  on  our  speedy  departure.  But  not 
so,  counseled  my  husband.  These  men  and  women 
needed  help  which  we  could  give.  It  was  our  duty  to  show 
that  we,  as  the  servants  of  Jesus,  had  come  in  a  spirit  of 
brotherhood  and  love,  and  it  gave  us  a  fine  opening  to  de- 
liver a  message  and  to  distribute  the  printed  Word — it 
would  not  take  long,  and  in  any  case  were  we  not  in  God's 
hands  ?  So  not  knowing  what  moment  the  ruffians  might 
return  to  drag  us  away  to  share  the  unknown  fate  of  our 
attendants,  perhaps  death,  surely  torture,  I  prescribed. 
Alas !  I  hope  none  of  my  patients  were  poisoned ;  but  with 
so  distracted  a  mind  did  I  work  that  it  was  very  difficult 
to  fix  my  thoughts  on  afflicted  eyes,  ears  and  throats,  etc. 
At  length  all  had  been  seen,  the  medicines  repacked,  when 
another  patient  appeared ;  again  we  waited,  I  diagnosed 
and  prescribed  and  Mr.  Underwood  prepared  the  medi- 
cine ;  but  still  another  and  yet  another  appeared,  till  I  be- 
gan to  think  we  should  not  be  able  to  leave  that  day  at  all. 
At  last,  however,  all  were  satisfied,  and  we  started  with 
our  race  with  time,  considerably  after  two  o'clock. 

We  had  twenty-five  English  miles  to  travel  before  we 
could  reach  the  nearest  magistrate,  on  a  road  leading 


72        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

through  and  over  the  mountains.  It  was  wild  and  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful,  but  correspondingly  rough  and  diffi- 
cult. Sometimes  it  was  only  the  narrowest  foot-path, 
running  along  a  ledge  of  rocks  overhanging  the  stream ; 
sometimes  it  was  almost  lost  among  great  boulders,  which 
must  be  skirted  or  surmounted.  The  loveliest  wild  flowers 
were  all  around  us,  but  for  once  they  did  not  tempt  us  to 
linger.  We  had  barely  left  the  confines  of  the  village  be- 
fore we  saw  in  the  road  before  us  the  prostrate  and  ap- 
parently inanimate  body  of  a  man,  whom  we  soon  recog- 
nized as  our  constable.  He  proved  to  be  not  dead,  but 
simply  fainting  from  the  cruel  beating  he  had  received. 
He  soon  revived  a  little  and  begged  us  to  hurry  on  for  aid. 
He  was  too  much  exhausted  and  bruised  to  be  carried  on 
with  us,  unless  we  abandoned  our  purpose  of  reaching  the 
magistracy  that  night,  which  it  seemed  for  the  best  good 
of  all  to  do ;  so  most  reluctantly  we  left  him  to  the  mercy 
of  the  villagers.  It  was  a  sore  alternative,  but  otherwise 
help  for  the  others  would  have  been  delayed  many  hours. 

When  we  had  proceeded  two  or  three  miles  farther  we 
saw  a  line  of  armed  men  half  kneeling  barring  the  road 
in  front  of  us,  with  their  guns  aimed  apparently  at  us.  I 
of  course  concluded  that  my  last  hour  had  come,  but  we 
decided  that  to  advance  with  no  signs  of  fear  or  doubt  was 
the  only  course  to  pursue,  and  found  a  few  minutes  later 
that  our  formidable-looking  opponents  were  only  some 
hunters  waiting  game  that  was  being  driven  towards  them 
by  others.  Our  road  steadily  ascended,  and  was  more  and 
more  difficult.  Where  it  was  worst  I  walked  to  relieve 
the  tired  coolies,  for  even  with  four  men  and  a  light  bur- 
den it  is  no  easy  matter  to  carry  a  chair  up  the  mountain 
side  on  a  warm  April  afternoon.  When  sunset  was 
almost  due,  and  we  had  many  miles  yet  to  go,  the  coolies 
insisted  on  waiting  for  supper.  I  dreaded  the  possible 


A   RACE   FOR   LIFE  73 

necessity  of  being  obliged  to  spend  a  part  of  the  night  un- 
sheltered in  a  country  that  seemed  so  hostile,  added  to 
which  the  other  thought  of  the  necessity  for  speed  made  it 
seem  impossible  and  wicked  to  delay  for  such  a  paltry 
thing  as  food. 

Why  the  men  who  had  seemed  so  bitter  and  cruel  at 
noon  had  not  followed  and  attacked  our  weakened  party 
I  have  never  been  able  to  entirely  explain.  I  can  only  sur- 
mise that,  like  most  Asiatics,  they  were  firmly  convinced 
that  Mr.  Underwood,  in  common  with  all  foreigners,  al- 
ways went  heavily  though  secretly  armed,  and  that  any 
attempt  to  injure  our  persons  would  result  in  awful 
calamity.  In  addition,  our  passport  and  the  well-known 
fact  that  we  were  on  very  friendly  relations  with  the 
palace  may  have  made  them  fear  the  consequence  of  harm- 
ing us,  even  though  they  were  more  than  half  resolved  to 
do  so.  More  than  this,  the  villagers  who  forbade  them  to 
touch  us  probably  knew  their  haunts  and  would  be  able  to 
hunt  them  out;  and  lastly,  the  fact  that  Mr.  Underwood 
stoutly  resisted  them  and  showed  no  signs  of  fear  un- 
doubtedly had  a  marked  effect  upon  their  treatment  of  us. 
Witness  the  fact  that  even  the  little  soldier,  the  only  man 
of  our  native  party  who  fought  them  and  showed  no  fear, 
was  the  only  one  of  the  Koreans  who  escaped  unhurt.  If 
we  had  at  any  moment  shown  ourselves  afraid  of  them 
they  would  have  taken  it  as  sure  proof  that  we  were  de- 
fenseless. Had  they  seen  our  little  revolver,  and  known 
it  for  our  only  weapon,  they  would  have  counted  us,  as  we 
were,  practically  helpless,  and  our  fate  might  have  been 
decided  very  differently. 

At  the  time  I  felt  certain  they  were  not  through  with 
us,  but  having  weakened  our  party,  they  would  attack  us 
in  the  lonely  road,  far  away  from  the  friendly  village,  and 
finish  their  work. 


74        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

We  could  scarcely  hope  to  distance  them,  handicapped 
as  we  were,  but  I  felt  we  could  not  put  too  much  space 
between  them  and  us,  and  many  a  backward  glance  I  cast, 
expecting  to  see  them  emerge  any  moment  from  some  rock 
or  tree.  Good  for  man  or  woman  it  is  to  feel  one's  self 
cast  utterly  on  God's  mercy,  and  entirely  in  his  hands,  to 
know  one's  self  beyond  all  human  aid,  with  him  alone  to 
look  to  for  succor.  As  I  turned  to  my  husband  that  day 
and  said,  "Well,  there's  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  trust  the 
Lord,"  it  flashed  over  us  both  how  commonly  we  only 
trust  him  when  there  is  nothing  else  to  do,  as  if  his  help 
were  the  last  we  should  ever  invoke,  a  last  forlorn  hope. 
How  far,  far  too  much,  we  fall  into  the  habit  of  trusting  in 
an  arm  of  flesh  and  all  the  frail  little  human  makeshifts 
with  which  we  encompass  ourselves  and  fancy  we  are 
safe.  But  how  near  he  seems,  how  strong  the  uplift  of 
the  "everlasting  arms,"  when  the  soul  is  left  alone  to 
him. 

We  were  forced  to  wait  some  time  while  our  tired 
coolies  fed,  the  darkness  meanwhile  coming  on  rapidly. 
At  length,  rather  than  waste  any  more  time,  I  started, 
walking  in  advance  and  leaving  the  coolies  to  follow ;  eat 
1  could  not.  Soon  the  road  divided  into  two,  one  a  short 
cut  over  the  mountain,  the  other  a  much  longer  one 
around  it ;  we  decided  to  take  the  shorter  road,  which  also 
leading  through  the  woods  became  extremely  dark,  so  that 
in  a  short  time  we  were  obliged  to  call  for  torches,  the 
road  too  turning  out  to  be  very  bad.  It  was  barely  a  foot- 
hold, circling  and  twisting  down  the  precipitous  mountain 
side.  Mr.  Underwood  soon  concluded  that  he  would 
rather  trust  his  own  feet  than  his  pony's,  as  we  heard  the 
displaced  stones  go  rattling  down  into  depths  far  below ; 
but  as  for  me,  though  I  would  have  much  preferred  to  de- 
scend from  my  chair,  which  had  some  time  before  over- 


A   CITY   OF   REFUGE  75 

taken  us,  I  was  now  so  tired  that  it  would  have  delayed 
us  too  much  and  added  nothing  to  my  safety. 

Still  it  was  rather  an  uncomfortable  thing  to  be  carried 
along  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  down  a  slippery,  uncer- 
tain path,  in  a  darkness  which  was  scarcely  relieved,  only 
made  visible,  by  the  flickering  torchlights,  especially  as 
they  invariably  burned  out  before  the  next  came  up,  and 
we  were  obliged  at  times  to  proceed  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or 
more — it  always  seemed  more — in  total  darkness ;  and  yet 
worse  than  this  is  probably  often  experienced  by  people 
traveling  in  the  mountains  for  pleasure.  At  last,  how- 
ever, after  nine  o'clock,  Mr.  Underwood  came  to  the  chair 
and  bade  me  look  up.  There  above  us  on  a  hill  in  relief 
against  the  starlit  sky  stood  the  walls  and  gate  of  the  little 
city.  A  city  of  refuge  indeed,  and  we  realized  that  night, 
a  little  at  least,  of  the  joy  of  the  hunted,  who,  closely  pur- 
sued by  the  avenger  of  blood,  found  himself  safe  within 
protecting  walls.  The  gates  were  hospitably  open  as  our 
messenger  had  arrived,  and  we  were  expected. 

We  were  told  that  it  was  a  custom  in  many  towns  in 
the  north  to  set  a  lamp  in  each  doorway  as  a  token  of 
welcome  to  expected  guests  who  for  any  reason  were  per- 
sons of  importance.  As  we  passed  down  the  street  and 
saw  these  bright  little  beacons  before  each  door  our  hearts 
were  deeply  touched.  Although  it  was  too  late  for  a 
formal  audience,  and  the  gate  of  the  magistracy  was 
closed,  my  husband  insisted  on  being  admitted  at  once. 
The  request  was  granted  and  he  hurried  in  and  began  the 
usual  ceremony  of  introducing  himself,  when  a  familiar 
voice  exclaimed,  "And  don't  you  know  me?"  Then  for 
the  first  he  looked  closely  into  the  face  of  the  official  be- 
fore him,  and  found  that  he  was  an  old  friend  from 
Seoul,  who  had  often  been  entertained  at  our  house. 

All  was  now  easy.    The  events  of  the  morning  were 


76        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

carefully  related,  with  the  request  that  the  police  should  be 
sent  at  once  to  rescue  and  bring  back  our  people,  reclaim 
our  goods  and  arrest,  if  possible,  the  criminals.  This  he 
promised  to  do  at  once,  and  in  fulfillment,  immediately 
ordered  up  the  hunters,  a  guild  of  brave  men  who  know 
the  woods  and  mountains  for  miles  around,  and  who  fear 
nothing.  His  spokesman  then  called  out  to  them  in  loud 
tones,  which  thrilled  through  the  clear  starlit  night,  the 
order  to  go  at  once,  find  and  arrest  the  robbers,  and  bring 
safely  our  attendants  and  goods  in  three  days'  time,  or 
lose  their  heads.  To  which  they  replied  in  a  sort  of  chant 
in  a  minor  key  that  they  would  so  arrest,  reclaim,  and 
bring  back  in  three  days'  time  or  would  lose  their  heads. 
The  last  syllable  long  drawn,  rolled,  rippled,  and  re-echoed, 
seeming  to  die  away  somewhere  among  the  stars.  The 
condition  about  the  loss  of  their  heads  was,  of  course, 
merely  for  rhetorical  effect,  or  very  likely  the  echo  of  an 
old  custom,  the  address  and  reply  being  probably  a  form 
hundreds  of  years  old.  At  any  rate,  though  they  returned 
after  three  days  had  passed,  their  mission  not  fully  accom- 
plished, there  was  no  talk  of  beheading,  or  thought  of  it  in 
any  quarter. 

It  may  be  noted  that  not  much  has  been  told  in  this 
chapter  of  Christian  work  and  its  results,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  conditions  were  somewhat  unfavorable. 
Owing  to  the  fears  of  our  American  minister,  Mr.  Under- 
wood had  been  forbidden  to  preach  in  the  country  at  this 
time,  so  that  his  work  was  limited  to  studying  the  country 
and  the  people  and  their  possibilities,  laying  plans  for 
future  work,  examining,  instructing  and  encouraging  con- 
verts and  supervising  and  testing  the  work  of  native 
helpers.  As  for  me,  the  effort  to  make  a  favorable  im- 
pression through  the  treatment  of  the  sick  and  the  distri- 
bution of  tracts  was  the  limit  of  my  usefulness. 


CHAPTER   V 

Our  Stay  in  Wewon — We  Give  a  Dinner — Our  Guests — Magis- 
trates Propose  that  we  Travel  with  a  Chain-Gang — Our  Trip 
down  the  Yalu — The  Rapids — Contrast  between  Korean  and 
Chinese  Shores — We  Enter  Weju — The  Drunken  Magistrate 
— Presents  and  Punishments — Unpleasant  Experiences  with 
Insincere  People — Rice  Christians — The  Scheming  Colporter 
— The  Men  Baptized  in  Weju — The  Lost  Passport — Another 
Audience  at  the  Palace — Queen's  Dress  and  Ornaments — 
Korean  Summer  House  —  The  Pocket  Dictionary  —  Our 
Homes. 

HERE,  then,  in  the  hospitable  little  town  of  Wewon  we 
rested,  made  friends  whom  we  hoped  to  draw  into  the 
friendship  of  our  Leader,  and  ministered  to  sick  bodies 
and  souls,  as  opportunity  was  given.  Here  in  a  few  days 
were  brought  our  boxes  and  a  few  of  the  men  who  had 
attacked  us.  Still  later,  for  they  were  unable  to  travel  for 
some  time,  came  our  poor  attendants,  who  had  twice  been 
cruelly  beaten  with  clubs  and  left  tied  up  all  night  in  a 
painful  and  agonizing  position.  The  mapoo's  arm  was 
broken,  and  our  helper  never  entirely  recovered  from  the 
injury  his  back  had  suffered.  Those  of  the  criminals  who 
were  found  were  sent  up  to  the  provincial  capital  to  be 
punished  by  the  governor. 

Before  leaving  Wewon  we  gave  a  dinner  to  the  magis- 
trate in  order  to  gratify  his  curiosity  and  that  of  his 
friends.  We  wished  to  show  in  some  way  our  apprecia- 
tion of  his  kindness  and  hospitality,  and  Mr.  Underwood, 


78        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

who  had  considerable  experience  and  much  skill  in  camp 
and  bachelor  cooking,  undertook,  in  the  face  of  some  odds, 
to  manage  the  matter;  and  we  found  our  ingenuity  well 
taxed  in  evolving  a  feast  from  the  now  scanty  remnants  of 
our  larder  and  the  few  obtainable  native  articles  out  of 
which  a  foreign  meal  could  be  manufactured.  However, 
we  prided  ourselves  that  we  did  quite  well,  with  some  six 
courses,  including  soup,  fish,  a  bewitching  little  roast  pig, 
well  decorated  with  wreaths  and  berries,  served  with  apple 
sauce  and  stuffed  with  potatoes,  chestnuts  and  onions. 
Our  dessert,  marmalade  spread  on  crackers,  was  suffi- 
ciently light  to  please  the  most  aesthetic,  and  we  introduced 
a  novelty,  coffee  sweetened  with  honey,  never  whispering 
that  our  sugar  was  gone.  The  magistrate  came  with  a 
huge  crowd  of  retainers,  who  filled  our  tiny  room  and 
flowed  over  into  the  kitchen,  peered  into  and  fingered 
everything,  and  nearly  wrecked  the  courses,  which  our 
overtried  servant  was  attempting  under  many  difficulties 
to  serve.  With  nothing  but  a  bowl  of  charcoal  in  lieu  of 
a  stove,  and  no  proper  kitchen  utensils,  it  was  by  no  means 
easy  to  achieve  such  a  feat  of  culinary  art  in  the  far  in- 
terior of  the  hermit  kingdom,  but  we  did  not  stop  to  con- 
sider a  little  inconvenience  or  bother,  nor  regret  a  little 
extra  work  where  we  could  thereby  make  or  strengthen 
friendship  with  Koreans.  Trifling  as  it  may  look  for  mis- 
sionaries to  be  planning  menus  and  giving  dinners  to 
country  magistrates,  there  are  more  ways  of  furthering 
the  cause  than  preaching  only.  The  hearts  of  the  people 
must  be  won,  and  he  who  wins  most  friends  wins  the 
readiest  and  most  attentive  audience,  one  inclined  in  ad- 
vance to  favor  and  accept  what  he  has  to  teach,  and  noth- 
ing is  trifling  which  helps. 

After  the  return  of  our  men  and  belongings,  and  as 
soon  as  the  former  were  able  to  travel,  we  felt  we  must 


A   CHAIN-GANG  7f 

hurry  on  to  Weju.  The  magistrate  of  Wewon  proposed 
that  when  we  departed,  the  eight  criminals  who  had  been 
captured  should  be  chained  together,  two  and  two,  and  led 
in  advance  of  our  company  during  the  rest  of  our  journey. 
Thus  should  we  march  through  the  land  like  conquerors, 
instilling  awe  and  terror  in  all  hearts,  and  none  who 
looked  on  this  tableau  would  ever  again  dare  assail  a 
foreigner.  Now  this  was  of  course  exactly  the  impression 
that  we  wished  to  produce  as  missionaries !  We  pictured 
ourselves  going  about  preaching  the  cross,  with  such  an 
object  lesson  as  this,  trying  to  win  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
while  driving  their  compatriots  before  us  in  chains,  and 
we  enjoyed  the  vision  hugely.  It  would  hardly  have  been 
possible  to  have  obtained  the  relief  of  our  Koreans  with- 
out the  arrest  of  the  criminals,  several  of  whom  were 
identified  as  notorious  men,  whose  seizure  was  necessary 
to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  community.  But  we  never 
would  have  had  them  punished  on  our  own  account  or  to 
gratify  revenge,  so  we  politely  thanked  the  magistrate  for 
his  tactful  suggestion,  but  begged  to  be  excused. 

We  found  the  town  of  Chosan,  where  we  stopped  on  the 
evening  after  leaving  Wewon,  quite  a  unique  and  inter- 
esting little  place.  It  is  situated  near  the  Yalu,  or,  as  the 
Chinese  call  it,  the  Amno  River,  which  forms  the  boun- 
dary line  between  Korea  and  China.  Two  "kisus,"  a  sort 
of  soldier  police,  were  sent  out  three  miles  to  meet  us,  and 
preceded  us  into  the  town,  blowing  trumpets  all  the  way, 
to  our  helpless  annoyance  and  disgust,  for  they  either 
could  not  or  would  not  understand  that  this  sort  of  demon- 
stration was  most  distasteful  to  us  both. 

As  at  Kangai,  more  and  more  soldiers  met  us  at  inter- 
vals. There  were  flags,  music,  crowds,  and  again  we 
entered  the  town  like  a  circus.  The  crowds,  however, 
were  kept  well  back,  the  place  was  much  smaller,  and  we 


80       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

were  undisturbed  at  the  magistracy.  As  soon  as  we 
entered  the  house  a  small  tray  was  brought,  with  cups  of 
hot  ginger  tea,  most  restful  and  refreshing,  the  kind 
thought  of  the  magistrate,  who,  unlike  others,  did  not 
force  himself  at  once  upon  us,  but  considerately  waited 
until  we  were  a  little  rested  and  refreshed.  We  found 
here  a  custom  which  we  had  not  met  elsewhere,  that  of 
sounding  a  bell  every  morning  at  a  certain  hour,  when  all 
morning  fires  must  be  extinguished,  not  to  be  relit  until 
late  in  the  afternoon. 

We  were  compelled  to  go  on  some  miles  farther  to  ob- 
tain a  boat  for  our  short  trip  down  the  Yalu.  In  rainy 
weather  the  rapids  between  this  point  and  Weju  are  rather 
dangerous,  but  at  this  time  it  was  only  a  swift  current, 
which  made  the  trip  the  pleasanter.  We  found  a  Korean 
junk,  which  served  our  purpose  as  well  as  any  that  were 
to  be  had,  which  was  flat-bottomed,  and  thirty  feet  long 
by  three  wide.  This  would  carry  our  attendants,  our 
packs,  two  or  three  boatmen  and  ourselves.  Some  mats 
were  rigged  on  bamboo  poles  above  us  for  an  awning,  and 
others  stretched  across  the  middle  of  the  boat  for  a  parti- 
tion, which  left  one  half  for  the  use  of  the  natives,  while 
we  reserved  the  other  for  ourselves.  Here  we  spent  three 
days  and  nights ;  during  the  latter,  however,  we  always  an- 
chored near  the  shore.  Provisions  in  plenty  were  obtained 
from  the  villages  we  passed,  when  a  great  many  people 
came  out  to  kugung ;  but  here  we  had  the  advantage,  and 
while  quite  able  to  talk  to  them  from  the  boat,  were  not 
forced  to  permit  more  than  we  liked  to  examine  us  and 
our  belongings. 

One  night  we  were  wakened  with  the  cry  of  "Pull, 
pull !"  "Fire,  fire!"  and  found  the  boat  was  on  fire.  Some 
one  had  fallen  asleep  while  smoking  and  dropped  hot 
ashes  among  combustibles ;  but  we  were  close  to  the  shore, 


OUR   TRIP   DOWN   THE   YALU  81 

there  was  plenty  of  water  and  people  to  use  it.  The  blaze 
was  soon  out,  and  nothing  thrilling  came  to  pass.  Thus 
was  it  ever  with  our  adventures.  While  danger  in  one 
form  or  another  made  itself  known,  as  if  to  prove  beyond 
a  doubt  our  Father's  care,  we  were  kept  as  safe  and  un- 
harmed as  a  child  in  its  mother's  arms ;  and  were  we  not 
with  the  everlasting  arms  underneath  us? 

As  we  drifted  down  the  Amno  those  lovely  spring  days, 
with  China  lying  on  one  side  of  us  and  Korea  on  the  other, 
the  contrast  was  wonderfully  marked,  almost  as  much,  in- 
deed, as  if  the  two  nations  had  been  separated  by  oceans 
rather  than  a  river.  This  difference  too  was  almost  as 
marked  in  the  physical  features  of  the  country  as  in  na- 
tional customs.  On  the  Korean  shore  the  trees  were 
mostly  of  pine ;  on  the  China  side,  of  oaks  and  other  de- 
ciduous varieties.  The  Korean  peasants'  huts  were  of 
mud,  straw  thatched ;  the  Chinese  houses  of  brick  or  stone, 
roofed  with  tile.  Koreans  dressed  in  white  were  plow- 
ing with  oxen;  Chinese  farmers  in  blue  were  plowing 
with  horses.  Rhododendrons  gave  a  lovely  roseate  tinge 
to  the  rocks  and  hills  on  either  side.  It  was  easy  for  the 
passing  traveler  to  see  which  country  bore  the  greater  ap- 
pearance of  prosperity  and  thrift. 

On  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  April  we  reached  Weju. 
Fortunately  no  official  notice  had  gone  before,  and  there 
were  no  trumpets,  drums,  harps,  sackbuts,  psalteries  and 
all  kinds  of  music  at  hand  to  make  our  lives  a  burden.  A 
chair  was  hired  for  Mr.  Underwood,  and  in  the  kindly 
protection  of  the  deepening  twilight  we  surreptitiously  en- 
tered these  conveyances  and  were  carried  into  the  city  as 
quietly  and  unobtrusively  as  happy  common  folks. 

And  now,  to  return  a  little,  soon  after  leaving  Pyeng 
Yang  we  had  met  a  Mr.  Yi,  of  Weju,  an  agent  of  the  Bible 
Society,  then  on  his  way  to  Seoul;  but  when  he  heard 


82        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

where  we  were  going  he  concluded  to  return  with  us.  Mr. 
Underwood  was  at  that  time  trying  to  decide  whether 
Weju  or  Pyeng  Yang  would  be  the  better  place  for  a  sub- 
station, with  a  half-formed  plan  to  purchase  a  house,  to 
which  we  could  go  when  itinerating,  in  charge  of  which 
we  might  place  a  care-taker,  who  would  also  be  helper,  in- 
tending to  select  from  among  the  converts  in  that  region, 
if  possible,  one  of  the  most  capable  and  earnest.  This  plan 
was  in  part  communicated  to  Mr.  Yi,  and  seemed  to  strike 
him  most  favorably.  He  shortly  proposed  to  precede  us 
to  Weju  and  select  such  a  place.  Mr.  Underwood,  how- 
ever, told  him  plainly  that  he  must  on  no  account  purchase 
or  promise  to  purchase  any  such  house  for  us ;  that,  as  our 
plans  were  indefinite,  we  could  not  buy  until  we  had  seen 
the  city  and  the  Christians,  and,  in  a  word,  until  we  had 
some  data  by  which  to  decide  whether  we  needed  such  a 
house  there  at  all.  And  even  then  the  locality  and  the 
house  must  first  be  seen  by  us. 

We,  however,  consented  that  he  should  go  in  advance 
and  arrange  at  some  inn  or  Christian  home  for  our  enter- 
tainment, so  that  we  could  be  quietly  and  quickly  housed 
on  entering  the  town.  We  also  consented  that  some  in- 
quiries should  be  made  as  to  what  houses  in  localities  con- 
venient for  work  were  purchasable,  and  at  what  price,  so 
that  we  might  have  something  definite  to  consider  on 
reaching  there.  Accordingly  he  left  us  before  we  reached 
Kangai  and  hurried  on  to  Weju.  When  we  arrived,  there- 
fore, he  met  us  and  conducted  us  with  much  eclat  to  a  very 
commodious  and  nice  bungalow,  which  he  said  was  his 
own.  Here  we  were  introduced  to  his  consumptive  wife, 
his  aged  father,  and  his  little  children. 

According  to  custom,  we  sent  our  passport  to  the  magis- 
trate as  soon  as  we  arrived.  This  scarcely  reached  his 
office  before  an  order  was  sent  out  for  the  arrest  of  our 


A    BUTCHER     SHOP 
BASKET   SHOP 


A    DRUNKEN    MAGISTRATE  83 

servants  and  helper,  who  were  forthwith  dragged  off  to 
the  yamen,  beaten  and  locked  up.  We  had  hardly  received 
this  disconcerting  news  when  it  was  announced  that  some 
messengers  had  arrived  from  his  excellency  with  a  very 
generous  present  of  chickens,  eggs,  nuts,  fruit  and  other 
edibles.  These  articles  again  had  barely  been  received  and 
the  messengers  not  well  out  of  sight  when  officers  arrived 
with  orders  to  arrest  our  host  and  have  him  beaten.  This 
very  contradictory  conduct  was  certainly  disquieting,  and 
we  were  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  what  it  meant. 

However,  we  had  not  long  to  wait.  The  deputy  or 
vice-magistrate  was  shortly  afterwards  announced,  and 
before  he  left,  he  gave  Mr.  Underwood  to  understand  that 
his  honor  the  magistrate  had  been  imbibing  rather  freely 
and  was  not  altogether  responsible  for  his  honorable  (?) 
conduct,  and  that  he,  the  deputy,  hoped,  therefore,  that  we 
would  overlook  his  slight  playfulness  in  arresting  and 
beating  our  poor  innocent  people.  These  little  aberrations 
were,  he  said,  quite  frequent,  and  of  course  when  once  we 
understood  what  was  to  be  expected  and  the  reason,  no 
concern  need  be  felt.  We  were,  of  course,  immensely  com- 
forted and  soothed  by  this  explanation,  and  rested  with 
quiet  minds  in  the  happy  consciousness  that  it  was  entirely 
uncertain  what  sort  of  magisterial  and  honorable  earth- 
quake or  cyclone  might  strike  us  next;  assured  it  would 
be  all  right,  as  he  intended  no  harm  in  his  sane  moments. 
The  poor  deputy,  in  a  strait  betwixt  two  (the  magistrate 
near  at  hand,  and  the  Foreign  Office  in  Seoul,  represented 
by  our  passport),  had  been  trying  to  smooth  over  the 
magistrate's  uncivil  reception  of  the  passported  foreigners, 
by  offerings  of  said  chickens,  eggs,  etc.,  and  this  was  the 
explanation  of  the  strange  combination  of  presents  and 
punishments. 

Drunkenness  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  very  common  in 


84        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Korea.  The  people  do  not,  as  in  Japan  and  China,  raise 
tea,  and  even  the  wealthiest  have  apparently  only  recently 
learned  the  use  of  either  tea  or  coffee,  which  the  common 
people  are  far  too  poor  to  buy.  Milk,  strange  to  say,  they 
have  never  used,  and  they  are  therefore  without  a  harm- 
less beverage  which  they  can  offer  their  friends  on  con- 
vivial occasions.  As  it  is,  they  resort  only  too  generally  to 
wines  and  some  very  strong  alcoholic  drinks,  which  they 
make  themselves. 

We  had  had  Christian  workers  at  Weju  for  some 
months,  one  of  whom  Mr.  Underwood  had  appointed  and 
two  who  had  constituted  themselves  such,  of  whom  we 
were  doubtful  then,  and  later  had  cause  to  be  more  so,  and 
who  now  hoped  to  prove  themselves  so  useful  to  us  that 
we  would  give  them  some  good-paying  position  in  the 
mission.  Several  of  our  experiences  at  Weju  were  very 
bitter  and  disappointing  to  us,  for  the  insincerity  of  men 
whom  we  trusted  was  made  clear,  and  yet  at  the  same  time 
they  were  instructive,  for  they  taught  us  to  be  very  slow 
and  cautious  in  investing  men  with  responsibility,  and  to 
be  very  guarded  both  in  receiving  converts  and  in  using 
money,  and  helped  to  strengthen  us  in  those  ideas  of  rigid 
self-support  which  Mr.  Underwood  had  already,  from  the 
study  of  Dr.  Nevius'  book,  begun  to  consider  deeply  and 
to  some  extent  follow.  One  of  the  self-appointed  begged 
us  to  start  a  Christian  school  in  a  place  where  as  yet  there 
was  no  opening  for  it,  and  to  put  him  in  as  teacher  with  a 
good  salary.  "But,"  Mr.  Underwood  objected,  "we  are 
not  yet  ready  for  such  a  school,  and  I  cannot  start  a  school 
merely  to  give  you  a  living."  Such  unconcern  for  his 
material  interest  grieved  him  sorely.  Long  he  pleaded  his 
need  and  begged  with  great  naivete  that  we  would  then 
inform  him  how  he  was  to  subsist,  with  refreshing  guile- 
lessness  rolling  the  whole  of  the  responsibility  of  his  ex- 


A   SCHEMING   COLPORTER  85 

istence  upon  us.  We  were  obliged  to  tell  him  with  some 
emphasis  that  we  were  not  here  to  provide  incomes  for 
indolent  men,  but  to  further  the  gospel. 

Another  man  whom  we  had  trusted  had  given  us 
altogether  exaggerated,  and  we  feared  intentionally  false, 
accounts  of  the  interest  in  Kangai,  of  which  we  had  failed 
to  find  any  signs.  He  did  not  suppose  we  would  go  there 
to  verify  the  reports  which  were  to  accrue  to  his  credit. 
But  another  and  still  more  annoying  experience  awaited 
us.  The  agent  Yi  told  us  that  the  house  we  were  in  be- 
longed to  us,  that  in  spite  of  our  repeated  injunctions  he 
had  bought  it  for  us,  and  had  sold  his  own  little  home  in 
part  payment  and  installed  his  family  here.  This  was  now 
the  only  shelter  of  his  aged  father,  his  sick  wife  and  his 
helpless  little  ones.  The  scheming  fellow  had  indeed 
placed  us  in  a  serious  predicament.  To  turn  these  weak 
and  helpless  people  into  the  street  for  the  sins  of  this  man 
was  not  to  be  thought  of ;  to  allow  the  man  to  profit  by  his 
dishonest  trick  would  be  to  encourage  every  covetous 
hypocrite  who  sought  to  make  gain  out  of  the  church  and 
to  misuse  consecrated  funds.  Fortunately  within  ten  days 
after  a  sale  the  money  or  deeds  may  be  demanded  back, 
and  so  we  made  him  ask  back  his  own  house  and  return 
the  one  we  had  used,  with  a  slight  extra  payment,  to  the 
original  owner.  It  is  due  to  the  British  Bible  Society  to 
say  that  they  were  of  course  deceived  in  this  man,  as  we 
are  all  liable  to  be  at  times,  no  matter  how  careful.  The 
distance  from  his  employers  at  which  he  was  working 
made  supervision  almost  impossible. 

We  were  visited  by  a  great  many  people,  mostly  men, 
who  seemed  deeply  interested  in  Christianity  and  eager 
for  baptism.  Over  one  hundred  such  applicants  presented 
themselves.  Mr.  Underwood  examined  them  with  great 
care,  and  found  that  all  had  studied  the  Scriptures  and 


86        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

tracts  with  great  assiduity,  and  nearly  all  were  well  in- 
formed in  the  cardinal  truths  of  the  gospel.  One  man  was 
quite  a  phenomenon  of  a  rather  useless  kind  of  Biblical 
erudition.  He  knew  the  number  of  chapters  and  verses  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  (Chinese,  of  course),  the  num- 
ber of  characters,  the  number  of  times  the  name  of  God 
and  Christ  occur,  and  a  variety  of  similar  facts,  showing 
he  had  an  extremely  facile  memory,  but  proving  nothing 
with  regard  to  his  conversion.  I  could  not  help  regarding 
the  poor  man  with  compassion.  It  seemed  too  bad  that 
he  should  have  taken  so  much  pains  and  spent  so  many 
hours  of  toil  to  gain  non-essentials  when  the  sweet  bread 
of  life  and  honey  out  of  the  rock  might  have  been  had  so 
simply  and  easily,  had  he  only  really  wanted  them,  had 
he  learned  enough  of  their  wondrous  value  to  desire  them. 
I  am  afraid  that  this  man  and  some  of  the  others  that  we 
questioned  had  no  inkling  of  what  Christianity  really  is, 
but  supposed  it  was  a  philosophy,  fine  and  good,  no  doubt, 
which  if  adopted  would  bring  them  in  touch  with  rich  and 
influential  foreigners,  and  find  them  speedy  employment 
as  teachers,  helpers  and  what  not. 

What  we  anxiously,  longingly  sought  for  in  these  appli- 
cants were  the  signs  of  a  sincere  change  of  heart,  of  a 
real  love  for  the  God  who  was  crucified  to  save  them,  and 
of  the  fruit  of  this  belief  in  a  change  of  life  and  character. 
Out  of  the  hundred  applicants  we  selected  thirty-three,  not 
those  who  answered  most  glibly  or  showed  the  greatest 
information,  but  those  who  gave  almost  unmistakable  evi- 
dence of  sincerity  of  heart  and  true  knowledge  of  Jesus. 
I  say  almost,  for  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  not  to  make 
mistakes  at  times. 

We  had  been  forbidden  to  baptize  in  Korea,  under  our 
passport,  and  we  all  crossed  the  river  into  China,  and  there 
held  a  communion  service,  a  very  solemn  and  deeply  felt 


SHEEP  WITHOUT  A  SHEPHERD      87 

occasion  to  us,  and  Mr.  Underwood  baptized  these  men, 
the  only  ones  baptized  during  the  whole  trip,  a  larger  num- 
ber than  he  ever  received  before,  or  after  that,  for  some 
years.  These  numbers,  rather  large  so  early  in  the  history 
of  the  mission,  were  afterward  much  exaggerated  by  ru- 
mor. No  one  was  able  to  visit  this  little  company  of  new- 
born souls  for  two  years.  No  response  from  the  church  at 
home  to  urgent  pleas  for  help ;  exacting  demands  of  work 
in  Seoul,  sickness  which  took  us  to  America,  made  it  im- 
possible for  any  one  to  go  and  strengthen,  encourage  and 
uphold  them.  With  no  pastor,  few  books  but  Chinese, 
they  were  sadly  neglected,  and  humanly  speaking,  it 
would  hardly  be  surprising  if  they  were  scattered  and  lost 
as  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  We  had  hoped  to  visit  them 
at  least  once  a  year,  but  had  no  idea  how  the  work  near 
home  would  grow  and  how  impossible  it  would  be  to  leave. 
These  men  were  not  of  the  city  of  Weju,  but  from  some 
little  hamlets  at  some  distance,  some  of  them  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  away.  Several  of  the  men  were  already 
well  known  to  Mr.  Underwood  and  had  been  under  in- 
struction for  more  than  a  year,  and  some  had  been  re- 
ported ready  for  baptism  by  Mr.  Saw,  who  had  been  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  Ross  when  he  came  to  Seoul  three  years 
before. 

This  is  to  show  that  a  horde  of  new  professors,  of  whom 
we  knew  nothing,  were  not  rashly  baptized  in  zeal  to  in- 
crease the  list  of  church-members,  as  was  stated  by  per- 
sons who  were  ignorant  of  the  real  facts.  All  were  rigidly 
examined,  all  had  been  long  prepared,  and  although  two 
missionaries  who  paid  a  visit  to  Weju  on  their  way  to 
China  two  years  later,  and  one  who  made  a  long  stay  eight 
or  nine  years  later,  said  they  found  none  of  these  Chris- 
tians, we  believe  God  was  able  to  keep  his  own.  It  would 
not  be  easy,  knowing  neither  the  names  of  the  men  nor 


88       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

the  villages  where  they  lived,  to  find  them,  especially  when 
we  remember  the  roving,  almost  nomadic  character  of  the 
people,  most  of  whom  had  probably  moved  quite  away, 
the  Japanese  war  having  worked  marvelous  changes. 
More  than  half  of  the  population  of  Weju  and  vicinity 
seemed  to  melt  away  during  that  disastrous  war. 

When  our  work  in  Weju  was  done  we  started  on  our 
return  trip  to  many  waiting  duties  in  the  capital.  The 
magistrate  had  not  restored  our  passport,  so  we  sent  for 
it,  but  it  was  not  forthcoming.  We  waited  some  time,  and 
again  meekly  requested  it;  still  it  was  withheld,  and  at 
length  we  learned  that  on  the  night  of  our  arrival  the 
magistrate  had  been  in  such  an  irresponsible  condition 
that  he  had  no  recollection  to  whose  care  he  had  confided 
it,  and,  in  fact,  the  passport  was  lost.  This  was  indeed  a 
serious  state  of  affairs !  To  travel  without  one  would  in- 
volve great  risk,  to  wait  for  another  from  Seoul  would 
take  more  time  than  we  could  afford  to  spare.  And,  in- 
deed, whether  we  should  believe  that  it  was  really  lost,  or 
that  this  was  only  the  excuse  of  an  inimical  magistrate 
who  meant  to  detain  us  there  for  some  dark  purpose,  was 
a  question.  After  some  annoying  delay,  however,  it  was 
found  and  duly  returned,  and  with  sad  farewells  from  our 
friends,  but  with  the  hope  and  intention  of  returning  soon 
to  feed  these  lambs  of  God's  fold  we  left  Weju,  to  which 
we  have  never  as  yet  been  permitted  to  go  back. 

Mr.  Underwood  and  I  discussed  long  and  earnestly  on 
our  return  trip  the  comparative  merits  of  Pyeng  Yang 
and  Weju  for  the  establishment  of  a  sub-station.  In  the 
one  the  opening  was  more  hopeful,  the  other  held  the  more 
advantageous  position.  We  at  length  concluded  to  leave 
the  matter  open  and  allow  future  events  to  decide  where 
we  should  start  our  station.  We  returned  to  Seoul  by  the 
main  road,  with  as  few  delays  as  possible,  and  had  an  un- 


ANOTHER  AUDIENCE  AT  THE  PALACE          89 

eventful  trip,  troubled  by  no  mobs  or  robbers.  The  season 
was  somewhat  advanced  and  the  inns  were  very  hot,  but 
the  country  was  beautiful,  with  many  varieties  of  the  love- 
liest flowers.  Lilies  of  the  valley  we  found  growing  in 
masses  not  ten  feet  from  the  roadside,  lilacs,  eglantine, 
sweet  violets  and  quantities  of  other  sweet-scented  flowers 
filled  my  chair.  We  found  ourselves  safely  at  home  near 
the  middle  of  May,  having  been  absent  over  two  months, 
traveled  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  treated  over  six 
hundred  patients,  and  talked  with  many  times  that 
number. 

We  were  dismayed  to  find  on  our  return  that  one  of  the 
too  loyal  missionaries  had,  in  supposed  obedience  to  the 
edict,  closed  the  little  room, where  services  had  been  held 
with  the  natives,  and  they  were  worshiping  secretly  in 
one  or  another  of  their  own  little  homes.  We  at  once 
threw  open  our  own  house  and  regularly  gathered  the 
Christians  there,  till  all  the  mission  were  willing  to  use  the 
little  chapel  again. 

Shortly  after  our  return  the  queen  invited  me  to  a 
private  audience,  in  order  to  give  me  a  very  unique  pair  of 
gold  bracelets,  which  she  had  ordered  made  for  a  wedding 
present,  and  which  had  not  been  ready  before  we  went  to 
the  country.  She  also  gave  a  ring  set  with  a  beautiful 
pearl  for  my  husband.  She  kindly  asked  about  our  trip, 
and  was,  as  usual,  all  that  was  friendly  and  considerate. 
I  wish  I  could  give  the  public  a  true  picture  of  the  queen 
as  she  appeared  at  her  best,  but  this  would  be  impossible, 
even  had  she  permitted  a  photograph  to  be  taken,  for  her 
charming  play  of  expression  while  in  conversation,  the 
character  and  intellect  which  were  then  revealed,  were 
only  half  seen  when  the  face  was  in  repose.  She  wore  her 
hair  like  all  Korean  ladies,  parted  in  the  center,  drawn 
tightly  and  very  smoothly  away  from  the  face  and  knotted 


QO       FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

rather  low  at  the  back  of  the  head.  A  small  ornament 
(indicating  her  rank,  I  suppose,  as  I  have  never  seen  any 
other  woman  wear  one)  was  worn  on  the  top  of  the  head, 
fastened  by  a  narrow  black  band.  One  or  two  very  orna- 
mental long  hairpins  of  gold  filigree  set  with  coral,  pearls 
or  jewels  were  stuck  through  the  knot  of  hair  at  the  back. 
She  usually  wore  a  yellow  silk  chogerie,  or  jacket  waist, 
like  those  worn  by  all  Korean  women,  fastened  with  a 
pearl  or  amber  button  and  a  very  long  flowing  blue  silk 
skirt.  All  her  garments  were  of  silk,  exquisitely  dainty. 

Her  majesty  seemed  to  care  little  for  ornaments,  and 
wore  very  few.  No  Korean  women  wear  earrings  (ex- 
cept young  girls  in  the  north,  who  wear  a  large  silver 
hoop),  and  the  queen  was  no  exception,  nor  have  I  ever 
seen  her  wear  a  necklace,  a  brooch,  or  a  bracelet.  She 
must  have  had  many  rings,  but  I  never  saw  her  wear  more 
than  one  or  two  of  European  manufacture,  set  with  not  so 
many  nor  so  large  diamonds  as  numbers  of  American 
women  of  moderate  means  and  station  often  display.  She 
had  any  number  of  beautiful  watches,  which  she  never 
wore.  According  to  Korean  custom,  she  carried  a  number 
of  filigree  gold  ornaments  decorated  with  long  silk  tassels 
fastened  at  her  side.  So  simple,  so  perfectly  refined  were 
all  her  tastes  in  dress,  it  is  difficult  to  think  of  her  as  be- 
longing to  a  nation  called  half  civilized. 

On  the  occasion  of  this  visit  she  gave  me  a  fresh  proof 
of  her  thoughtful  kindness.  I  was  wearing  my  wedding 
dress  and  very  thin  satin  slippers,  and  as  I  was  leaving 
it  suddenly  began  to  rain.  My  chair  was  nearly  half  a  mile 
distant,  waiting  outside  the  gate,  according  to  rule.  The 
queen,  whom  nothing  escaped,  noted  the  rain,  and  my  diffi- 
culty. She  came  in  person  to  the  window  and  imperatively 
ordered  word  to  be  sent  to  the  gate  for  my  chair  to  be 
brought  to  the  waiting  room. 


KOREAN   SUMMER   HOUSE  91 

But  this  was  too  much.  The  officials  who  attended  me 
there  said  that  such  an  exception  as  this  in  my  favor  would 
awaken  bitter  criticism  and  jealousy,  that  one  of  the 
highest  officials  in  the  land  was  at  that  moment  waiting 
at  the  gate  for  the  shower  to  pass  so  that  he  could  attend 
at  an  audience,  and  would  be  obliged  to  walk  through  the 
rain.  They  therefore  begged  that  I  would  wave  the  ful- 
filment of  the  queen's  order  and  walk  to  my  chair.  I  saw 
the  reason  and  the  good  sense  in  their  protest,  and  of 
course  at  once  consented,  as  much  comforted  by  the 
queen's  kind  intention  as  if  my  slippers  and  silk  gown  had 
been  well  protected.  This  rule  for  the  exclusion  of  chair 
coolies  was  changed  soon  after,  and  my  chair  was  brought 
close  to  the  royal  apartments. 

That  summer  was  passed  on  a  high  bluff  on  the  banks 
of  the  river,  in  a  Korean  summer  house,  which  belonged  to 
the  king,  which  their  majesties  had  allowed  our  mission  to 
use  a  previous  year,  and  which  favor  was  now  extended  to 
us.  It  was  situated  on  the  rocks  about  fifty  feet  above  the 
water,  and  was  one  of  those  charming,  cool  and  pictu- 
resque summer  refuges  which  Koreans  understand  build- 
ing to  perfection.  Its  roof,  with  artistically  upward  curv- 
ing corners,  was  supported  on  several  stout  pillars,  but  its 
walls  were  all  windows  of  light  wood,  in  fancy  open-work 
designs,  which  were  covered  with  paper  on  one  side,  and 
which,  being  made  to  swing  out  and  hook  to  the  roof, 
formed  a  very  effective  awning.  Here  with  a  breeze  al- 
ways sweeping  through,  effectively  screened  from  the  sun, 
with  a  perfect  view  of  the  mountains  and  the  Han  River, 
with  its  lovely  green  valley,  Mr.  Underwood  worked 
nearly  all  summer  on  his  small  dictionary,  Mr.  Gale  or 
Mr.  Hulbert  giving  him  much  useful  help  at  times.  My 
husband  had  been  at  work  on  a  larger  dictionary,  which  he 
planned  to  make  a  very  full  and  complete  one,  for  nearly 


92        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

three  years,  and  had  already  many  thousands  of  defini- 
tions of  words  with  synonyms.  It  was  to  be  both  Korean- 
English  and  English-Korean,  not  like  the  French,  merely 
the  Korean  into  the  foreign  tongue.  It  was  a  darling 
scheme  of  his  heart,  on  which  he  was  putting  all  the  time 
that  could  be  spared  from  direct  mission  work ;  but  per- 
suaded by  his  brethren  that  something  was  sorely  needed 
immediately  by  missionaries  now  beginning  to  arrive,  he 
laid  his  magnus  opus  aside  for  the  present,  not  without 
regret,  but  without  a  backward  look,  and  working  without 
cessation  from  early  dawn  into  the  night  hours  all  that 
long  summer,  prepared  and  finished  the  small  dictionary, 
for  the  convenience  at  the  present  indigent  moment  of 
those  who  were  struggling  with  the  language. 

The  following  fall,  the  loved  secretary,  Dr.  Mitchell, 
and  Mrs.  Mitchell  visited  our  mission  and  gave  us  all 
much  advice  and  help,  for  which  we  were  most  grateful. 
We  were  not  then  quite  so  well  housed  as  now.  Our 
homes  were  mud-walled  and  rather  damp,  often  leaking 
badly  in  rainy  season  and  admitting  much  frosty  air 
through  numerous  cracks  in  the  winter.  Many  of  our 
windows  were  not  glazed,  but  merely  covered  with  paper. 
During  the  doctor's  visit  there  came  one  night  a  heavy 
storm  of  wind  and  rain,  which  beat  against  the  window 
near  our  bed,  and  thoroughly  demolished  it,  the  rain  pour- 
ing in  on  the  floor.  The  roof  leaked  over  us,  but  with 
umbrellas  and  waterproofs  we  kept  quite  dry.  In  the 
morning,  however,  at  the  sight  of  the  flooded  floor  and  the 
paper  windows  hanging  in  shreds,  Dr.  Mitchell  gave  us  a 
severe  reprimand  for  our  carelessness,  warning  us  that 
missionaries  are  far  too  expensive  commodities  to  be  so 
ill  protected.  A  lesson  it  were  well  for  all  young  mission- 
aries to  learn,  but  which,  as  a  rule,  alas !  they  are  too  slow 
to  heed. 


CHAPTER   VI 

An  Audience  at  the  Palace — Dancing  Girls — Entertainment 
Given  after  the  Audience — Printing  the  Dictionary  and 
Grammar — A  Korean  in  Japan — Fasting  to  Feast — Death 
of  Mr.  Davies — Dr.  Heron's  Sickness — Mrs.  Heron's  Mid- 
night Ride — Dr.  Heron's  Death — Difficulty  in  Getting  a 
Cemetery  Concession — Forced  Return  to  America — Com- 
pensations— Chemulpo  in  Summer — The  "Term  Question" 
in  China,  Korea  and  Japan — Difficulties  in  the  Work. 

EARLY  in  the  fall  of  1889  I  was  invited  to  another  audi- 
ence at  the  palace,  with  some  of  the  foreign  state  officials 
and  their  wives.  After  the  audience  a  dinner  was  served, 
and  later,  a  performance  by  dancing  girls  was  given. 
And  right  here  I  must  say,  that  although  on  several  occa- 
sions at  the  palace  I  have  seen  dancing  girls  in  these 
entertainments,  I  have  never  beheld  anything  at  such 
times  in  their  actions  that  was  improper  or  even  undigni- 
fied. Their  motions  are  graceful,  usually  slow,  circling 
around  hand  in  hand  or  in  various  combinations  of  pretty 
figures.  They  wear  high-necked  and  long-sleeved  jackets 
or  coats,  and  long  skirts,  the  figure  quite  concealed  by  the 
fashion  of  the  dress.  And  yet,  thus  to  appear  in  public, 
allowing  their  faces  to  be  seen  by  strangers,  is  the  gravest 
breach  of  propriety  in  the  eyes  of  all  Koreans,  and  these 
girls  are,  alas !  as  depraved  as  women  can  be.  Like  those 
of  their  class  in  all  countries,  they  are  the  most  pitiable 
and  hopeless  of  women,  but  unlike  those  who  have  thrown 
themselves  away,  they  deserve  small  blame  mixed  with 
the  compassion  one  feels  for  them,  for  these  poor  girls 


94        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

have  been  sold  by  their  parents  into  their  awful  lives,  and 
were  given  no  choice  of  their  destiny.  Many  a  poor  little 
Korean  child  is  sold  into  slavery  for  a  few  bags  of  rice, 
to  be  trained  as  a  dancing  girl,  used  as  a  common  drudge, 
or  married  to  a  man  she  has  never  seen,  while  she  is  hardly 
larger  than  our  little  ones  playing  with  their  dolls  in  the 
nursery. 

But  to  return  to  our  palace  entertainment,  from  which 
I  have  made  a  rather  long  digression.  The  guests  were 
seated  on  the  veranda,  or  "maru,"  in  front  of  the  dining 
hall,  and  in  the  grounds  before  us  appeared  a  pretty  boat 
with  wide  spread  sails,  in  which  were  seated  some  gaily 
dressed  girls.  Others  now  appeared,  dancing  to  slow 
native  music,  a  stately  figure,  almost  in  minuet  fashion, 
with  waving  of  flowing  sleeves  and  banners.  They  were 
evidently  the  spirits  of  the  wind,  and  the  boat  was  wait- 
ing the  favoring  breeze.  The  music  grew  quicker,  while 
faster  and  faster  stepped  the  dancers,  more  and  more 
swiftly  fanning  the  sails  with  sleeves,  skirts  and  scarfs,  till 
at  last  the  boat  slowly  moved  forward,  and  with  its  at- 
tendants moved  out  of  sight.  When  the  boat  had  been 
thus  gracefully  fanned  away,  a  couple  of  mammoth  lotus 
plants  were  brought  out,  with  great  closed  blossoms  seen 
among  the  leaves. 

Following  them  came  a  pair  of  gigantic  storks,  ex- 
tremely well  simulated.  The  birds  came  forward  slowly, 
advancing,  retreating,  sideling,  mincing,  waiving  their 
heads  and  long  bills  about,  all  in  tune  to  the  music,  waver- 
ing and  uncertain,  yet  evidently  with  some  definite,  not  to 
be  resisted,  purpose  in  mind.  At  length,  after  long  hesi- 
tation, one  of  them  plucked  up  courage  and  gave  a  vigor- 
ous peck  at  a  lotus  bud,  which  forthwith  burst  open  and 
released  a  pretty  little  child,  who  had  been  curled  up  at  its 
heart.  The  other  stork,  with  similar  good  fortune,  dis- 


95 

covered  another  little  one.  I  was  much  interested  to  find 
this  stork  and  baby  myth  here  in  Korea,  centuries  old ;  but 
those  hoary  nations  of  the  East  are  ever  reaching  down 
into  the  apparently  limitless  depths  of  their  remote  past, 
and  dragging  forth  some  fresh  surprise  whereby  to  con- 
vince us  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun. 

Late  in  November  of  the  same  year  we  went  to  Japan 
to  publish  Mr.  Underwood's  grammar  and  dictionary,  as 
there  were  no  means  of  printing  such  books  in  Seoul.  In 
Japan  we  were  forced  to  wait  while  type  was  made,  and 
during  this  delay  Mr.  Underwood  perfected  the  grammar, 
adding  what  is  now  the  first  part.  A  Korean  teacher  or 
scholar  accompanied  us,  but  great  was  his  distaste  for 
Japan  and  all  her  ways,  and  herculean  our  toils  and 
efforts,  as  each  steamer  sailed  to  prevent  his  returning  to 
Korea. 

Rice  is  the  staple  article  of  food  in  China,  Korea  and 
Japan,  but  it  is  cooked  and  eaten  differently  in  all  three 
countries,  and  no  one  of  either  will,  except  under  dire 
necessity,  eat  the  rice  prepared  by  one  of  the  other 
nationalities.  Our  literary  assistant  was  of  the  Yang- 
ban,  or  noble  class,  he  had  never  soiled  his  hands  in 
labor,  or  cooked  anything  for  himself,  but  after  enduring 
a  Japanese  hotel  with  many  and  doleful  complaints  for  a 
very  short  time,  he  begged  us  to  find  him  a  room  and  let 
him  keep  house  for  himself.  That  a  Yangban  should 
make  a  proposition  like  this  showed  to  what  straits  he  had 
been  brought,  so  we  at  once  complied  with  his  request,  and 
from  that  time  on  he  prepared  his  rice  with  his  own 
gentlemanly  hands.  He  was  a  Chinese  scholar  of  fine  at- 
tainments, and  his  learning  was  much  respected  in  high 
Japanese  circles.  He  was  often  invited  out,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished by  an  invitation  to  the  house  of  the  governor 
of  the  city. 


96        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Now,  when  Koreans  attend  a  feast,  they  expect  to  finish 
an  incredible  amount  of  food  on  the  spot  (nor  is  it 
altogether  unusual,  in  addition,  to  carry  away  as  much  in 
their  sleeves  and  hands  as  strength  will  permit).  Some- 
times they  fast  for  several  days  previous  in  order  to  do  full 
justice  to  the  entertainment,  and  generally,  I  believe,  quan- 
tity is  considered  of  far  more  import  than  quality.  Not  so 
with  the  Japanese,  among  whom  our  teacher  visited.  If 
his  word  was  to  be  believed,  they  had  developed  the 
aesthetic  idea  quite  to  the  other  extreme,  and  provided  a 
few  tiny  cups  and  dishes  of  supposedly  delicate  and  rare 
viands  for  their  guests.  So  on  this  occasion  to  which  I 
refer,  it  was  almost  pathetic,  the  poor  Korean  fasting  to 
feast,  with  visions  of  quarts  of  rice  and  vermicelli  soup, 
pounds  of  hot  rice  bread,  nuts,  fruits,  fresh,  dried  and  can- 
died ;  meats  with  plenty  of  hot  sauce,  "kimchi,"  or  sauer- 
kraut, etc.,  etc.  Alack  the  day !  A  few  microscopic  cups 
of  tea,  a  few  tiny  dishes  of  articles  which  knew  not  Korea 
(among  them  no  doubt  raw  fish),  and  for  the  rest,  a  feast 
of  reason  and  flow  of  soul.  Next  day,  a  wiser  and  a 
thinner  man,  he  sadly  told  Mr.  Underwood  that  he  now 
understood  why  Japanese  prospered,  while  Koreans  grew 
poor.  "Koreans,"  said  he,  "earn  a  hundred  cash  a  day 
and  eat  a  thousand  cash  worth,  while  Japanese,  on  the  con- 
trary, earn  a  thousand  cash  a  day  and  eat  a  hundred  cash 
worth."  Never  were  truer  words  spoken,  with  regard  to 
the  Japanese  at  least.  If  these  people  have  a  virtue,  which 
their  worst  enemies  cannot  gainsay,  it  is  their  industry 
and  thrift. 

Just  what  is  the  ordinary  number  of  slight  earthquakes 
in  Japan  per  month  or  year,  I  do  not  know,  but  during 
the  six  months  of  our  stay  they  averaged  one  every  three 
days.  During  one  twenty-four  hours  of  our  experience 
there  were  eleven.  They  were  not,  of  course,  severe,  but 


DR.   NEVIUS  VISITS  KOREA  97 

sufficient  to  swing  doors,  set  chandeliers  clattering  and 
rocking  chairs  in  motion,  and  to  convince  me  more  than 
once  that  the  house  was  on  the  point  of  tumbling  about 
our  ears. 

Just  before  we  returned  to  Korea  we  were  shocked  to 
hear  of  the  sudden  death  by  smallpox  of  Rev.  Mr.  Davies, 
a  brother  greatly  beloved  in  the  Lord,  who  had  arrived 
early  the  previous  summer  and  had  made  phenomenal 
progress  in  the  language,  whose  gifts  and  learning  were 
unusual,  but  were  all  excelled  by  his  spirituality  and  con- 
secration. His  zeal  never  permitted  him  to  spare  himself 
in  the  least.  He  seemed  to  link  himself  at  once,  heart 
to  heart,  with  Mr.  Underwood,  and  together  they  planned, 
studied,  worked  and  prayed  for  the  salvation  of  the  people. 
It  was  as  if  death  had  entered  our  own  family  when  news 
came  of  his  loss,  and  a  black  pall  seemed  to  lie  across  our 
path.  We  knew  God  does  all  things  well,  and  his  ways 
are  not  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  ours,  and  yet  in  the 
weakness  of  the  flesh,  which  cannot  see,  with  all  those  un- 
saved millions  dying  around  us,  we  felt  we  could  not  spare 
Mr.  Davies,  and  to  us,  to  whom  he  had  been  confidant, 
sympathizer,  counselor  and  friend,  the  personal  loss  was 
bitter.  But  we  have  learned  that  often  when  we  think,  or 
come  in  any  way  to  feel  that  his  cause  depends  on  a  man, 
God  removes  him,  to  teach  us  that  his  cause  depends  on  no 
man,  that  he  can  bless  the  efforts  of  the  weakest  and  poor- 
est and  feed  five  thousand  from  the  basket  of  a  little  boy. 

On  April  26,  1890,  the  books  were  finished,  and  we 
started  at  once  for  Korea,  reaching  here  in  May.  Soon 
after  our  return  from  Japan  we  were  visited  by  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Nevius.  We  all  recognized  Dr.  Nevius  as  a  king 
among  men,  with  a  mind  so  clear  and  broad,  a  spirit  so 
genial,  a  heart  so  full  of  charity  and  with  a  record  of  such 
long  years  of  faithful  labor  that  we  were  glad  to  sit  at  his 


98        FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

feet.  The  sense  of  ignorance,  incompetence,  inexperience, 
combined  with  a  realization  of  awful  responsibility,  is 
almost  overwhelming  to  the  young  missionary  on  a  new 
field,  and  it  is  only  by  constantly  leaning  on  the  almighty 
arm  that  he  is  kept  from  despondence  and  despair.  At 
such  times  the  advice  of  such  an  elder  brother  is  invalu- 
able. 

The  little  missions  had  by  this  time  been  reinforced  by 
several  arrivals,  and  the  following  summer,  which  was 
very  warm,  many  of  them  went  to  Namhan  (Southern 
fortress)  to  spend  the  hot  months.  Seoul  lies  in  a  basin, 
encircled  by  mountains,  and  is  extremely  unhealthy  in 
summer,  its  festering  pools  and  ditches  overflowing  with 
filth,  steaming  a  very  witches  brew  of  evils  upon  the  sick- 
ened air,  with  odors  unspeakable  and  undreamed  of  in 
civilized  lands.  Namhan  is  about  seventeen  miles  distant 
from  Seoul,  on  top  of  a  mountain,  not  quite  two  thousand 
feet  high.  It  lies  on  the  further  side  of  the  Han  River, 
but  is  fairly  easy  of  access,  reached  by  a  steep  road  wind- 
ing up  the  mountain. 

Dr.  Heron  had  taken  his  family  there,  and  frequently 
traveled  back  and  forth  to  his  duties  in  Seoul,  which  was 
doubtless  too  much  for  his  strength  in  those  hot  and 
humid  days.  He  was  soon  attacked  by  dysentery,  which 
did  not  at  first  seem  serious,  and  was  consequently  ignored 
too  long.  It  finally  developed  into  the  most  malignant 
form  of  the  disease,  which  resisted  every  effort  of  the  phy- 
sicians, Drs.  Scranton  and  MacGill,  who  were  unremitting 
in  the  struggle  in  which  they  were  steadily  worsted.  As 
soon  as  the  symptoms  began  to  look  grave  Mrs.  Heron 
was  sent  for.  In  great  distress  and  alarm,  she  set  off  that 
very  evening,  in  a  terrible  storm  of  rain  and  wind,  a  very 
carnival,  no  torch  or  lantern  could  be  kept  alive,  the  wind 
howling  around  the  frail  chair  as  if  to  tear  it  from  its 


GATE    IN     THE     WALL    OF     NAMHAN.        PAGE    98 


MRS.    HERON'S    MIDNIGHT    RIDE  99 

bearers'  hands.  The  roads,  steep  and  difficult  in  pleasant 
weather,  were  really  dangerous  when  slippery  with  mud 
and  water,  in  darkness  so  absolute  that  not  one  step  in  ad- 
vance could  be  seen,  while  in  the  woods  and  valleys  the 
coolies  were  sometimes  up  to  their  waists  in  water. 
Drenched  to  the  skin,  this  poor  afflicted  young  wife  ar- 
rived at  her  home  near  morning,  after  traveling  all  night 
in  this  terrible  storm,  to  find  her  husband  fatally  ill.  After 
a  little  more  than  three  weeks'  sickness  and  great  suffer- 
ing, Dr.  Heron  passed  away,  to  the  grief  and  loss  of  the 
whole  foreign  community,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Koreans 
(and  they  were  many)  with  whom  he  had  come  in  contact, 
to  all  of  whom  he  had  endeared  himself  by  untiring  kind- 
ness. 

The  government  had  never  set  aside  any  land  for  a  for- 
eign cemetery  near  Seoul,  although  in  accordance  with  the 
treaty  they  should  have  done  so  long  before.  A  strong 
superstition  and  very  rigid  law  forbid  the  burial  of  the 
dead  within  the  city  walls,  and  hitherto  the  few  Europeans 
who  had  died  had  been  buried  in  the  cemetery  near 
Chemulpo.  But  to  carry  remains  thirty  miles  in  the  heat 
of  July,  to  the  port,  with  no  conveyances  but  chairs,  to  be 
forced  to  bury  our  dead  so  far  away,  was  unnecessary,  in- 
convenient and  expensive,  as  well  as  an  additional  trial  to 
hearts  already  sore.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  Dr.  Heron's 
death  seemed  inevitable,  a  request  was  made  that  the  gov- 
ernment would  set  apart  a  place  near  the  city  for  this  pur- 
pose. This,  with  characteristic  procrastination,  they  failed 
to  do. 

On  the  day  of  Dr.  Heron's  death  they  offered  a  place 
which  we  found  altogether  impossible,  beyond  the  sand 
beds  across  the  river,  a  long  distance  off,  in  very  low 
ground.  It  was  then  decided  that  as  something  immediate 
must  be  done,  we  would  make  a  temporary  resting  place  on 


ioo      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

a  piece  of  ground  belonging  to  our  mission,  where  there 
was  a  small  house,  occupied  just  then  by  Mr.  Underwood's 
and  Dr.  Heron's  literary  helpers.  As  soon  as  they  heard 
of  this  plan  they  objected  most  strongly,  saying  it  was 
against  the  law,  and  as  the  body  must  be  carried  through 
the  streets  to  reach  there,  there  would  probably  be  a  good 
deal  of  excitement  and  trouble. 

We  then  ordered  the  grave  dug  on  Dr.  Heron's  com- 
pound, back  of  his  house,  sending  word  to  the  Foreign 
Office  that  as  they  had  provided  no  other  place,  we  were 
forced  temporarily  at  least  to  make  this  disposal  of  the 
remains.  The  time  for  the  funeral  was  set  for  three 
o'clock,  and  about  a  half  hour  before  the  literary  helpers 
again  came  to  us  in  a  state  of  the  wildest  excitement  and 
terror,  tearing  their  hair,  weeping  and  trembling.  They 
averred  that  the  people  in  that  quarter  were  planning  to 
mob  us  all,  to  burn  down  their  house,  beat  and  kill  them, 
and  very  likely  kill  us  too,  if  the  body  was  buried  within 
the  walls. 

It  seemed  cruel  that  no  place  could  be  found  where  we 
could  lay  our  dead.  Our  hearts  were  torn  with  grief  for 
the  poor  burdened  sister,  who  ought  to  have  been  able  to 
claim  a  quiet  and  decent  burial  for  her  dear  one's  re- 
mains, as  well  as  the  sympathy  of  every  one,  that  she  must 
be  refused  a  place  for  his  repose,  and  assailed  by  all  this 
wrangling  and  confusion.  We  were  hotly  indignant  with 
the  teachers,  who  we  thought  ought  to  have  risen  above 
heathen  superstition  on  their  own  part  and  kept  the  secret 
from  the  people.  It  was  now  uncertain  where  Dr.  Heron's 
remains  could  be  laid,  and  they  were  therefore  embalmed 
and  hermetically  sealed.  The  Foreign  Office,  however,  on 
hearing  that  it  was  our  intention  to  bury  on  the  compound, 
at  once  came  to  terms  and  gave  us  a  large  field  on  a  fine 
bluff  overlooking  the  river,  about  five  miles  from  Seoul. 


FORCED   RETURN   TO   AMERICA  101 

This  was  obtained  through  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  Dr. 
Allen  of  the  United  States  legation,  who  besieged  the 
foreign  office  and  insisted  on  this  concession. 

During  all  these  months  the  work  was  steadily  going 
forward ;  more  than  we  had  dared  to  hope  were  added  to 
the  number  of  believers  and  inquirers ;  a  Bible  translating 
committee,  of  which  Dr.  W.  B.  Scranton  of  the  M.  E. 
Mission  and  Mr.  Underwood  were  members,  had  been  ap- 
pointed ;  a  girls'  school  in  each  of  the  two  missions  had 
been  started  long  before,  and  both  were  steadily  growing 
(though  the  Methodists  were  far  in  advance  here),  the 
boys'  orphanage  had  been  changed  to  a  boys'  school,  and 
hospital  and  dispensary  work  in  both  missions  was  flour- 
ishing ;  with  an  increase  of  confidence  of  the  people  in  our 
friendship  and  trustworthiness. 

In  the  early  fall  a  new  member  of  the  mission  appeared 
in  our  family,  making  life  richer,  in  a  measure  absurdly 
disproportionate  to  his  dimensions  and  weight.  Some 
months  after  this,  sickness,  growing  more  and  more  threat- 
ening and  intractable,  followed,  until  the  doctors'  verdict 
was  that  a  return  to  America  was  the  only  condition,  and 
(that  a  doubtful  one)  on  which  life  could  be  saved.  The 
kindness  and  goodness  of  the  whole  community  shown  to 
me  were  beyond  expression.  Here  in  the  East,  where  the 
ordinary  conveniences  of  large  cities  are  not  to  be  had  for 
money,  where  we  are  very  dependent  on  each  other's  kind 
offices,  mutual  love  and  service  draw  and  bind  us  very 
closely  together. 

I  was  nursed,  and  friends  and  neighbors  helped  my 
husband  pack  away  our  goods,  for  a  year's  absence  means 
that  everything  must  be  nailed  or  locked  or  sealed  up  from 
mildew,  moth,  rust,  rats  and  robbers.  Furniture  must  be 
compactly  stowed  away  so  that  the  house  may  be  occupied 
by  other  homeless  missionaries  waiting  for  an  appropria- 


102      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

tion  for  a  house.  They  sewed  for  baby  and  me,  and 
spared  neither  pains  nor  trouble  to  help  us.  Two  of  the 
ladies,  Mrs.  Bunker  and  Miss  Rothweiler,  went  with  us  to 
Chemulpo,  a  journey  which  I  made,  carried  by  six  coolies 
to  ensure  steadiness,  on  a  long  steamer  chair,  stopping 
over  night,  half  way,  at  a  primitive  Japanese  hotel. 

I  can  never  tell  with  what  regret,  shame  and  pain  I 
left  Korea.  I  had  looked  forward  with  pleasure  to  a  re- 
turn after  a  long  period  of  years,  when  the  work  had  been 
well  begun  and  the  appointed  time  had  come,  when  some- 
thing had  been  accomplished,  but  to  go  now,  a  failure,  to 
leave  my  work  scarcely  begun,  perhaps  never  to  return, 
was  bitter.  But  more  bitter  still  was  the  thought  that  I  was 
dragging  my  husband,  in  the  freshness  of  his  health  and 
vigor,  back  from  a  life  of  usefulness,  where  workers  were 
pitiably  few  and  calls  for  help  from  all  sides  were  many 
and  loud.  Christian  tracts  and  hymn  books  were  needed, 
the  Bible,  as  yet  not  translated,  the  dictionary  not  half 
finished,  schools  to  be  established,  a  fast  growing  band  of 
Christians  to  be  nourished  and  taught,  and  when  I  thought 
of  it  all,  it  looked  dark. 

But  God  brought  a  blessing  out  of  it,  as  he  always  does 
from  every  seeming  misfortune,  for  through  that  return 
to  America  several  missionaries  were  obtained,  a  new 
mission  established  and  greater  interest  in  Korea  aroused 
in  the  minds  of  American,  Canadian  and  English  Chris- 
tians. 

"Man's  weakness  waiting  upon  God  its  end  can  never  miss, 
For  man  on  earth  no  work  can  do  more  angel-like  than  this. 
He  always  wins  who  sides  with  God — to  him  no  chance  is  lost; 
God's  will  is  sweetest  to  him  when  it  triumphs  at  his  cost. 
Ill  that  he  blesses  is  our  good,  and  unless  good  is  ill, 
And  all  is  right  that  seems  most  wrong,  if  it  be  His  sweet  will." 

On  our  return  to  Korea  most  of  the  summer  was  spent 


CHEMULPO   IN    SUMMER  103 

at  Chemulpo,  as  our  baby  was  very  sick.  We  stopped  in  a 
so-called  "hotel,"  kept  by  Chinamen.  The  long  hot  nights 
were  rendered  almost  intolerable  by  the  noise  and  odors 
of  such  a  place.  From  early  in  the  evening  till  past  mid- 
night we  were  tortured  by  the  high  falsetto  singing  of  the 
actors  in  a  Chinese  theatre  across  the  street.  The  sailors 
returning  to  the  gunboats  in  the  bay  kept  the  dogs  in  fats 
of  frenzied  barking,  which  would  have  effectually  mur- 
dered sleep  had  it  ever  ventured  near.  By  the  time  the 
dogs  had  begun  to  regain  their  composure,  the  Japanese 
venders  of  vegetables,  fish,  etc.,  with  a  devotion  to  business 
which  under  any  circumstances  ought  to  have  won  high 
praise,  began  with  loud  strident  voices  to  call  their  wares 
under  my  window  until  it  was  time  to  rise  and  face  a  new 
day. 

All  day  I  brooded  over  my  starving  little  son  with  an 
aching  heart,  looking  out  across  the  long  reaches  of  dreary 
mud  flats  to  the  sea,  watching  for  the  steamer  that  was 
bringing  the  only  food  that  he  could  digest,  and  prayed  it 
might  not  come  too  late.  Day  by  day  the  little  life  trem- 
bled in  the  balance,  but  at  last  the  ship  came  in,  and  never 
was  argosy  from  the  Indies  laden  with  gems  and  treasures 
untold  half  so  welcome.  Never  could  ship  come  to  me 
with  half  so  precious  a  cargo  as  that  which  brought  my 
baby  strength  and  life. 

In  the  meanwhile  Mr.  Underwood  toiled  in  the  city, 
overseeing  the  repairs  on  our  house,  for  we  must  be  build- 
ers, contractors,  carpenters,  gardeners  and  jack  of  all 
trades,  and  throughout  the  summer  working  unremittingly 
on  a  hymn  book  which  the  little  church  now  greatly 
needed. 

The  "term  question"  is  a  vexed  problem  which  as  yet 
has  failed  to  find  a  solution  that  secures  the  assent  of  all 
missionaries.  This  question  relates  to  the  proper  word  to 


104      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

be  used  for  God.  China,  Japan  and  Korea  alike  use  the 
Chinese  characters  and  have  words  which  mean  "gods," 
or  things  worshiped,  but  they  do  not  have  either  a  definite 
article  or  capitals,  such  as  those  by  which  in  English  we 
can  change  "gods"  into  "the  God"  or  "God."  They  also 
have  names  (quite  a  different  matter)  signifying  the  chief 
god  of  heaven  (Sangchai  or  Hannanim),  the  god  of  earth 
(Tangnim)  and  others. 

Some  missionaries  hold  that  by  using  this  name  of  the 
chief  god  of  heaven  and  explaining  it  by  instructing  the 
people  in  the  character  and  attributes  of  him  whom  they 
ignorantly  worship,  they  will  more  easily  understand  and 
more  readily  accept  our  teaching.  Many  also  believe  that 
the  name  really  refers  to  the  great  God  of  heaven,  al- 
though of  course  it  is  impossible  to  claim  that  it  refers 
to  the  one  only  God,  since  all  the  heathen  who  worship 
this  one  also  worship  countless  other  smaller  deities. 

On  the  other  hand  are  those  who  conscientiously  believe 
that  the  personal  name  of  a  heathen  deity  should  not  in 
any  way  be  applied  to  the  Eternal  Jehovah,  that  such  a 
course  is  in  direct  conflict  with  God's  own  word.  Then 
aside  from  their  convictions  on  this  matter  they  believe 
that  the  use  of  a  heathen  cognomen  of  one  of  these  gods, 
be  he  of  heaven  or  earth,  applied  to  the  great  "I  am"  may, 
in  addition  to  being  forbidden,  lead  to  dangerous  mis- 
takes in  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  infant  native 
church.  They  believe,  in  short,  that  a  false  thing  can 
never  be  right,  and  that  to  address  Jehovah  by  a  name  not 
his,  but  another's,  cannot  be  right  or  result  well  in  the 
end.  This  view  has  been  adopted  by  missionaries  of  all 
creeds  in  Japan,  a  large  minority  of  Protestants,  and  all 
Romanists  in  China,  and  by  all  the  Episcopalians  and 
Romanists  in  Korea.  They  use  the  name  Jehovah  for 
God. 


DIFFICULTIES    IN    THE    WORK  105 

Almost  the  entire  body  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
Methodist  missionaries  in  Korea,  and  a  majority  of  them 
in  China,  belong  to  the  other  party,  although  quite  essen- 
tially different  words  are  used  by  the  Chinese  missionaries 
from  those  used  in  Korea.  The  Chinese  use  Sangchai; 
the  Koreans,  Hannanim. 

It  is  with  no  controversial  intent  that  this  matter  is  re- 
ferred to  here.  It  is  indeed  a  vexed  question,  but  one 
whose  satisfactory  settlement  is  to  be  devoutly  hoped  for. 
No  little  feeling  has  been  awakened,  because  it  is  a  ques- 
tion which  has  involved  in  the  minds  of  many  some  very 
deep  principles. 

The  only  reason  for  referring  to  this  matter  is  that  men 
and  women  in  Christian  lands  may  gain  a  little  glimpse 
of  some  of  the  difficult  and  perplexing  problems  which 
confront  the  workers  in  some  of  the  mission  fields.  These 
problems  vary  in  different  countries,  but  they  all  have 
their  difficulties. 

Immediately  after  our  return  Mr.  James  Gale's  Gram- 
matical Forms  was  published,  and  about  a  year  later  his 
Korean-English  dictionary,  so  that  the  mission  was  now 
supplied  with  several  language  helps.  Much  stress  had 
been  laid  from  the  first  upon  securing  a  thorough  mastery 
of  Korean,  and  each  missionary  was  required  to  pass  three 
very  rigid  annual  examinations.  A  course  of  study  for 
first,  second  and  third  grades  was  made  out  for  each  year, 
to  assist  students,  and  members  of  the  examination  com- 
mittee and  others  were  appointed  to  oversee  and  aid  the 
language  study  of  the  newcomers. 


CHAPTER   VII 

The  Mission  in  1893 — "The  Shelter" — Opening  of  Japanese  War 
— Seoul  Populace  Panic  Stricken — Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  in 
Pyeng  Yang — Heroic  Conduct  of  Native  Christians — Con- 
dition of  Pyeng  Yang  after  the  War — Dr.  Hall's  Death — 
Preaching  the  Gospel  at  the  Palace — The  Queen  Seeks  to 
Strengthen  Friendly  Relations  with  Europeans — Her  Maj- 
esty's Generosity — A  Little  Child  at  the  Palace — The  Slaves 
of  the  Ring — A  Christmas  Tree  at  the  Palace — The  Queen's 
Beneficent  Plans— The  Post  Office  Emeute  of  1884— A 
Haunted  Palace — The  Murder  of  Kim  Oh  Kiun. 

IN  the  fall  of  1893  we  moved  too  early  into  a  house  re- 
cently repaired  and  not  yet  completed,  with  wet  mud  walls 
and  no  windows  fitted  in  some  of  the  rooms.  It  seemed  a 
necessity,  but  resulted  in  continued  sickness  through  the 
entire  winter  for  the  little  one  and  myself,  so  that  I  was 
largely  debarred  from  the  good  work  going  on  among  the 
Koreans.  Many  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  were 
coming  into  the  church,  men's  and  women's  meetings  were 
well  attended,  and  even  the  little  boys  in  the  school  seemed 
full  of  Christlike  zeal,  and  spent  some  of  their  holiday  and 
play  hours  in  telling  the  good  tidings  and  distributing 
tracts.  One  of  our  missionaries,  Dr.  Moffett,  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  Pyeng  Yang,  other  appointments  of  Presby- 
terians to  the  same  place  soon  following,  as  well  as  that  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  from  the  Methodist  Mission. 

On  my  own  part,  a  little,  very  interrupted  medical  work 
was  done,  and  women's  meetings  were  begun  and  carried 
on  with  great  difficulty  on  account  of  deficient  knowledge 
of  the  language,  but  little  by  little,  in  trying  ever  so  lamely 
to  use  what  I  had,  I  rapidly  gained  more  and  more,  so  that 


"THE   SHELTER"  107 

I  could  soon  talk  and  pray  with  freedom,  if  not  always 
with  perfect  elegance  and  correctness,  and  as  my  chief  aim 
was  to  be  understood  by  the  Koreans,  not  to  display  my- 
self as  an  accomplished  linguist,  I  was  satisfied  and  happy 
when  I  had  proof  of  this.  Other  women  by  this  time  were 
prepared  to  do  this  work  well,  in  all  three  missions ;  and 
our  poor  native  sisters  were  being  reached  in  various 
quarters.  I  had  been  invited  to  the  palace  several  times, 
my  child  was  also  asked  there,  and  petted  and  loaded  with 
kindness. 

The  Bible  translating  committee  had  been  enlarged  and 
now  included  Rev.  H.  G.  Appenzeller  (M.  E.)  and  Mr. 
James  S.  Gale  (Presby.),  in  addition  to  Dr.  Scranton 
and  Mr.  Underwood.  Lesson  leaves  were  prepared  for 
our  Bible  classes,  and  a  number  of  tracts  were  being 
translated  by  various  missionaries.  Before  our  return  to 
America  in  1891,  and  for  some  years  after,  it  was  the 
cruel  custom  among  wealthy  natives  to  put  servants,  de- 
pendents or  strangers  at  once  on  the  street,  if  afflicted 
with  any  infectious  disease,  and  it  was  the  commonest  oc- 
currence to  find  poor  people  lying  by  the  roadside,  either 
exposed  to  the  bitterest  blasts  of  winter  or  the  blazing  heat 
of  midsummer.  Sometimes  a  friend  or  relative  had 
erected  a  rude  hut  of  thatch  over  the  sufferer,  sometimes  a 
whole  family  together  occupied  such  a  hut,  the  dead  and 
living  lying  together.  It  was  our  heart's  desire  to  obtain 
in  some  way  the  means  to  buy  or  build  a  hospital  for  such 
cases.  While  we  were  in  America  small  sums  were  put  at 
odd  times  into  our  hands  "for  the  work,"  and  as  these 
sums  increased  we  decided  to  use  the  money  for  this  long- 
cherished  purpose. 

Soon  after  our  return,  we  were  able,  at  a  very  low  price, 
to  buy  a  beautiful  piece  of  ground  on  a  breezy  hillside, 
covered  with  fine  trees  and  with  a  good  tiled  house  having 


io8      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

six  or  seven  rooms.  This  was  large  enough  for  our 
present  purpose,  and  money  in  hand  was  not  sufficient  to 
build  the  sort  of  hospital  of  which  we  dreamed.  So  we 
repaired  the  old  building  and  added  a  caretaker's  quarters. 
We  made  the  institution  undenominational,  arranging  that 
any  one  might  place  cases  of  infectious  disease  there, 
which  should  be  attended  by  any  doctor  desired.  At  the 
same  time  a  little  dispensary,  given  in  memory  of  her  only 
son  by  Mrs.  Hugh  O'Neil,  of  New  York,  was  opened  not 
far  from  the  "Shelter,"  as  it  was  called,  on  the  main  road 
to  the  north.  Here,  in  addition  to  medical  work  in  a  small 
way,  women's  Bible  classes  were  held,  men's  and  women's 
evening  prayer  meetings,  and  often  Sabbath  morning  ser- 
vices. July  of  1894  saw  the  beginning  of  the  China- 
Japan  war  in  Korea,  and  the  capture  of  Seoul  by  the 
Japanese.  We  were  awakened  one  morning  by  the  sound 
of  firing,  and  soon  learned  that  the  palace  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  Japanese.  Excitement  rose  quite  high 
among  both  foreigners  and  natives. 

All  the  legations  ordered  up  troops  from  the  port  where 
our  gunboats  lay,  for  our  protection,  although  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  how,  in  a  case  of  serious  danger,  such  small 
numbers  would  be  of  any  service.  There  were  fifty  Rus- 
sians, forty  Americans,  forty  English  and  nine  German 
marines.  The  natives,  high  and  low,  were  in  a  state  of 
panic.  The  nobility  fled  from  their  homes  in  large  num- 
bers and  in  all  sort  of  disguises,  and  sought  refuge  at  the 
foreign  legations,  or  in  the  country;  and  to  the  country 
the  common  people  started  en  masse.  Every  shop  was 
closed,  the  city  had  the  look  of  a  plague-infested  place.  A 
solemn  procession  of  men,  women,  chairs,  pack-ponies,  a 
continuous  throng,  in  dead  silence,  with  rapid  steps,  and 
set,  terror-stricken  faces,  poured  through  the  main 
thoroughfares  and  out  of  the  gates.  Many  pathetic  little 


THE    CHINA-JAPAN    WAR  109 

groups  were  to  be  seen;  little  children,  whose  parents  in 
wild  fear  had  deserted  or  lost  them  in  the  crowd,  trotting 
along  with  tear-stained  faces,  alone;  women  with  babies 
on  their  backs  and  babies  hanging  at  their  skirts;  men 
carrying  all  their  worldly  goods  on  their  shoulders,  here 
and  there  coolies  with  the  chair  of  some  frightened  rich 
man  or  fine  lady,  shoving  aside  the  crowd.  High  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  hurrying  away  from  the  dreaded 
Japanese,  the  ancient  enemy  of  their  nation.  How  it  made 
one  realize  the  great  multitude  of  unsaved  peoples,  push- 
ing its  way  along  the  broad  road  and  through  the  wide 
gate  that  leads  to  destruction.  "And  when  he  beheld  the 
multitudes  he  had  compassion  on  them  as  sheep  having  no 
shepherd."  The  servants  in  every  family  gave  notice; 
they  dared  not  stay,  they  said,  since  to  remain  would  be  to 
be  killed  by  Chinese  or  Japanese.  We  reminded  them  that 
we  were  neither  afraid  nor  making  any  preparations  for 
flight,  and  at  last  only  persuaded  some  of  them  to  remain 
by  promising  that  we  would  never  go  and  leave  them, 
which  we  had  fully  decided  upon  on  account  of  the  native 
Christians. 

Some  very  exciting  and  trying  events  had  in  the  mean- 
while been  taking  place  in  Pyeng  Yang.  In  the  previous 
May  Dr.  William  James  Hall  of  the  M.  E.  Mission  took 
his  wife  and  baby  to  that  city  to  start  a  station,  and  to  take 
up  a  permanent  residence.  They  were  almost  mobbed  by 
the  curious  throngs,  whom  they  were  unable  to  control. 
No  police  could  be  obtained  from  the  governor,  who  in  ad- 
dition, on  the  second  or  third  day  after  their  arrival,  ar- 
rested and  threw  into  jail  Dr.  Hall's  helper  and  the  man 
from  whom  he  had  bought  his  house.  This  is  the  approved 
method  of  forcing  a  man  to  give  up  a  house  or  piece  of 
ground  to  which  he  holds  a  good  title,  but  which  Korean 
officials  object,  for  any  reason,  to  his  keeping. 


no      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Dr.  Hall  had  selected  this  property  because  it  was  in  a 
thickly  populated  part  of  the  town,  where  he  believed  he 
could  do  most  good,  but  he  had  positively  refused  to  pay  a 
tax,  which  former  owners  had  always  paid  to  a  certain 
devil-worship  and  sorceress  house  in  the  vicinity. 

Dr.  Moffett's  helper  and  the  former  owner  of  his  house 
were  also  cast  in  jail,  and  his  native  Christians  cruelly 
beaten,  at  the  time  when  Dr.  Hall's  men  were  seized.  It 
was  evident  missionaries  were  not  to  be  tolerated  in  Pyeng 
Yang.  One  or  two  other  M.  E.  native  Christians  were 
then  also  arrested  and  beaten.  Dr.  Moffett  was  in  the 
capital,  and  the  Halls  were  quite  alone  in  this  large  town, 
among  many  enemies,  several  days'  journey  from  Seoul 
and  help.  The  situation  was  grim.  Dr.  Hall  was  obliged 
to  leave  his  helpless  wife  and  baby  alone  in  the  unprotected 
house  while  he  visited  the  governor,  or  the  Chinese  tele- 
graph office  (both  long  distances  away),  or  in  trying  to 
relieve  or  help  the  Christians  in  the  jail. 

As  soon  as  his  first  message  arrived  in  Seoul,  a  general 
meeting  of  all  the  missionaries  was  called  at  our  house 
for  united  prayer  for  the  Halls  and  our  poor  tortured  na- 
tive brethren.  Dr.  Scranton,  Dr.  Moffett  and  Mr.  Under- 
wood at  once  hastened  to  the  American  and  English  lega- 
tions, and  obtained  through  them  an  order  from  the  For- 
eign Office  to  the  governor,  to  release  the  Christians  and 
pay  damages  for  the  injured  property.  Although  this  was 
wired  at  once  to  Pyeng  Yang,  the  only  apparent  result  was 
that  the  natives  were  more  cruelly  beaten  and  water-car- 
riers forbidden  to  take  water  to  the  Halls,  their  house 
stoned  and  the  walls  torn  down.  The  natives  bore  their 
cruel  treatment  heroically,  and  refused  to  give  up  their 
faith ;  they  were  then  removed  to  the  death  cell,  and  the 
governor  sent  them  word  of  his  intention  to  execute  them. 
Two  despatches  from  Seoul  had  been  received  by  the  gov- 


PERSECUTIONS  AT   PYENG  YANG  in 

ernor,  but  still  no  signs  of  change.  In  the  meanwhile  it 
was  decided  that  some  of  the  missionaries  from  Seoul 
should  go  to  Dr.  Hall's  help.  Mr.  Moffett  claimed  the 
right  to  go,  as  his  native  Christians  were  there  in  trouble, 
and  Mr.  McKenzie,  from  Canada,  was  allowed  to  accom- 
pany him,  being  an  unmarried  man,  although  several 
others  stoutly  urged  the  best  reasons  why  they  should  go, 
like  boys  begging  for  a  holiday  rather  than  men  going  to 
face  a  very  serious  and  doubtful  situation. 

We  all  feared  that  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hall,  as  well  as  the 
Christians'  lives,  would  be  sacrificed  to  the  malice  of  the 
mob  and  the  governor  before  sufficient  influence  could  be 
brought  to  bear  by  our  legations  through  the  Foreign 
Office  to  save  them.  By  the  time  the  two  men  from  Seoul 
had  arrived  there,  however,  five  days  later,  the  Christians 
had  been  released,  after  being  again  badly  beaten  and 
stoned.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  for  a  month  following  treated 
patients  and  preached  the  Word,  but  when  war  seemed 
imminent  they  were  ordered  back  to  Seoul,  where  they 
returned,  as  well  as  Mr.  McKenzie,  Dr.  Moffett  follow- 
ing somewhat  later,  having  lingered  as  long  as  possible  to 
encourage  and  hearten  the  Christians.  Pyeng  Yang  was 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese,  and  Seoul  in  those  of  the 
Japanese.  The  summer  was  a  very  hot  and  unhealthy  one, 
and  there  was  scarce  a  family  among  the  foreigners  where 
there  was  not  one  or  more  cases  of  severe  and  prostrating 
sickness.  Two  little  ones  died,  and  there  were  long  hours 
of  agonized  watching,  when  dear  lives  seemed  for  hours 
to  be  slipping  over  the  brink.  None  of  us  could  leave  the 
city  to  seek  for  purer  air  or  water,  no  pure  milk  could  be 
had,  and  one  poor  young  father,  whose  little  child  was 
literally  starving  for  digestible  nourishing  food,  re- 
membering his  father's  farm  with  its  good  milk  cows, 
remarked  pathetically,  "In  my  father's  house  there 


H2      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

is  food  enough  and  to  spare,  while  I  perish  with 
hunger." 

On  the  first  of  October,  after  the  defeat  of  the  Chinese, 
the  Presbyterian  missionaries  and  Dr.  Hall  returned  to 
Pyeng  Yang  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  stations  left 
so  long,  in  a  city  which  had  passed  through  such  a  hard 
experience. 

Pyeng  Yang  was  in  a  fearfully  unhealthy  condition. 
One  of  the  missionaries  wrote,  "The  decaying  bodies  of 
men,  horses  and  cattle  were  so  numerous,  that  no  matter 
whatever  direction  we  went  we  came  across  them  con- 
stantly, so  that  the  atmosphere  was  foul  beyond  ex- 
pression." Another  wrote,  "In  one  place  I  counted  over 
twenty  bodies,  literally  piled  one  on  top  of  another,  lying 
just  as  they  had  been  shot  down.  ...  In  another  place, 
where  a  body  of  Manchurian  cavalry  ran  into  an  ambush 
of  Japanese  infantry,  the  carnage  was  frightful,  several 
hundred  bodies  of  men  and  horses  lying  just  as  they 
had  fallen  made  a  swath  of  bodies  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  long  and  several  yards  wide.  It  was  three 
weeks  after  the  battle  and  the  bodies  were  all  there  un- 
molested." 

According  to  a  native  superstition  that  the  city  is  a  boat, 
and  to  dig  wells  would  sink  the  boat,  there  were  no  wells 
in  Pyeng  Yang ;  but  a  large  number  of  bodies  of  men  and 
horses  were  lying  in  the  river,  polluting  for  weeks  the  only 
water  supply.  In  this  dreadful  situation  our  brave  mis- 
sionaries remained  and  worked,  and  on  October  I7th 
Dr.  Hall  wrote  the  following  cheerful  words,  "We  have 
very  interesting  services,  the  hymns  of  praise  that  less 
than  a  year  ago  brought  cursing  and  stones  are  now  list- 
ened to  with  delight,  and  carry  with  them  a  feeling  of 
security  similar  to  the  sound  of  a  policeman's  whistle  in 
New  York.  Comparatively  few  of  the  Koreans  have  re- 


THE  DEATH  OF  A   HERO  113 

turned  to  their  homes,  but  every  day  brings  fresh  addi- 
tions. Every  day  numbers  of  those  who  have  returned 
and  those  from  the  surrounding  villages  and  towns  visit 
us.  They  buy  our  books  and  seem  far  more  interested  in 
the  gospel  than  I  have  ever  seen  them  before." 

Very  soon  after  writing  these  words  Dr.  Hall  returned 
to  Seoul;  the  boat  on  which  he  came  was  full  of  sick 
Japanese  soldiers.  There  were  cases  of  typhus  fever  and 
army  dysentery,  the  water  was  doubtless  poisoned,  and  he 
reached  Seoul,  after  numerous  most  trying  vicissitudes, 
fatally  ill  with  typhus  fever.  Quite  early,  articulation  be- 
came very  difficult,  but  every  halting  sentence  spoke  of 
perfect  peace  and  joy,  and  almost  his  last  words  were, 
"I'm  sweeping  through  the  gates."  Tears  dim  my  eyes 
while  I  write,  for  we  all  not  only  loved,  but  reverenced 
Dr.  Hall,  and  we  felt  that  he  possessed  a  larger  share  of 
the  Master's  spirit  than  most  of  us.  His  very  entrance 
into  a  room  seemed  to  bring  the  Lord  nearer,  and  his 
looks,  words  and  conduct  unexceptionally  revealed  the 
power  and  beauty  of  Christ.  No  one  ever  heard  Dr.  Hall 
speak  a  harsh  or  bitter  word,  no  one  ever  heard  him 
criticise  a  brother  Christian,  no  one,  to  the  best  of  my  in- 
formation, ever  knew  of  him  anything  that  was  not  noble, 
true,  faithful  and  Christlike.  His  face  beamed  with  a 
celestial  light,  and  without  his  ever  assuming  to  be  in  any 
way  better  than  others,  we  all  felt  he  was  a  holy  man. 
Europeans  and  natives  alike  testified  to  the  same  impres- 
sions of  him,  the  same  love  for  him,  his  sweet  spirit  drew 
all  hearts  to  him,  so  that  he  was  both  universally  loved  and 
honored. 

While  we  who  were  in  Seoul  had  all  suffered  more  or 
less  from  ill  health,  everything  was  quiet  and  orderly, 
and  the  Japanese  deserve  great  credit  for  the  fine  disci- 
pline of  the  army,  and  the  good  order  and  comfort  of  na- 


ii4      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

tives  and  foreigners  in  a  city  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
victorious  troops  of  an  Eastern  nation. 

During  the  fall  and  winter  of  1894  and  1895  the  queen 
sent  for  me  very  often,  asking  many  questions  about  for- 
eign countries  and  their  customs,  and  chatting  most 
affably.  Frequently  we  dispensed  altogether  with  the  for- 
mality of  an  interpreter,  and  the  king  and  crown  prince, 
who  were  often  present,  were  quite  as  frequently  else- 
where, so  with  her  majesty  so  friendly  and  kind,  I  at  times 
almost  forgot  that  I  was  not  having  a  tete  a  tete  with  an 
intimate  friend.  I  of  course  felt  my  great  responsibility 
heavily,  and  was  overwhelmed  at  times  with  the  thought 
of  my  duty  and  inefficiency.  At  length  I  asked  the  prayers 
of  the  missionaries  that  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  the 
queen  about  Christ  might  be  given  me,  and  that  I  might 
realize  it  and  make  the  best  use  of  it.  And  now  my 
anxiety  and  trouble  of  mind  passed  away  and  a  restful 
contentedness  took  its  place.  I  felt  sure  that  I  was  to  be 
guided  and  led  at  the  right  time. 

On  the  day  before  Christmas  the  queen  sent  for  me  and 
asked  me  to  tell  her  about  our  great  festival,  its  origin 
and  meaning,  and  how  celebrated.  Could  any  one  ask 
clearer  guidance  or  a  better  opportunity  ?  It  would  be  im- 
possible not  to  tell  the  gospel  story  under  such  circum- 
stances, and  so  I  told  her  of  the  angels'  song,  and  the  star, 
and  the  little  babe  that  was  laid  in  a  manger,  of  the  lost 
world  to  be  redeemed,  of  the  one  God  who  so  loved  the 
world,  and  the  Redeemer  who  came  to  save  his  people 
from  their  sins. 

She  listened  intently,  and  with  deep  interest,  turning 
from  time  to  time  and  repeating  it  in  a  most  animated  and 
sympathetic  way  to  the  king  and  prince,  who  did  not 
understand  my  accent  so  well. 

A  few  days  later,  after  asking  many  questions  about 


THE  QUEEN  DEEPLY  MOVED        115 

my  own  country,  she  said  rather  sadly,  "Oh,  that  Korea 
were  as  happy,  as  free  and  as  powerful  as  America!" 
Here  was  another  opportunity  which  I  tried  to  improve 
by  saying,  that  America,  though  rich  and  powerful,  was 
not  the  greatest  or  the  best,  attempting  to  picture  that 
better  land  without  sin,  pain  or  tears;  a  land  of  endless 
glory,  goodness  and  joy.  "Ah!"  exclaimed  the  queen, 
with  unspeakable  pathos,  "how  good  it  would  be  if  the 
king,  the  prince  and  myself  might  all  go  there!" 

Poor  queen !  her  kingdom  threatened  on  all  sides,  at  that 
time  in  the  hands  of  an  ancient  foe,  traitors  and  relentless 
enemies  among  her  own  people  and  kindred,  and  some  of 
the  men  whom  she  had  raised  and  advanced  ready  and 
plotting  then  to  betray  her  to  death.  No  wonder  she 
sighed  for  that  haven  of  peace  and  rest.  But  I  was  forced 
to  tell  her  very  sadly,  that  no  sinners  might  enter  there. 
"No  sinners !"  Her  face  fell,  the  bright  look  faded,  for 
she  knew,  accustomed  though  she  was  to  almost  divine 
honors,  that  she  was  a  sinner.  Then  as  silence  fell  in  the 
room,  I  told  her  the  good  tidings,  that  all  who  would  trust 
in  Jesus  were  forgiven  and  purified  through  him,  and  so 
made  holy  and  fit  for  that  country.  She  listened  very 
thoughtfully,  and  though  no  other  opportunity  came  to 
talk  further  on  this  subject,  I  was  unspeakably  thankful 
that  I  had  been  permitted  on  these  occasions  to  point  out 
clearly  the  way  of  salvation. 

I  think  that  in  this  time,  when  her  nation's  helplessness 
and  weakness  were  emphasized,  the  queen  sought  to 
strengthen  friendly  relations  with  European  and  Ameri- 
cans. She  gave  several  formal  audiences  to  European 
and  American  ladies,  and  all  who  met  her  felt  her  power- 
ful magnetic  charm  and  became  at  once  her  friends  and 
well-wishers.  Twice  during  that  winter  the  queen  bade 
me  ask  all  my  friends  to  skate  on  the  pond  in  the  palace 


u6      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

gardens,  graciously  asking  me  to  act  as  hostess  in  her 
place  and  serve  tea  in  the  little  pavilion  near-by. 

On  Christmas  day  her  majesty  sent  a  beautiful  sedan- 
chair,  which  had  been  her  own,  covered  with  blue  velvet 
and  lined  with  Chinese  brocaded  silk,  and  with  it  any 
number  of  screens,  mats,  rolls  of  cloth  and  interesting  and 
curious  articles  of  Korean  manufacture,  with  great  quan- 
tities of  eggs,  pheasants,  fish,  nuts  and  dates,  and  on  the 
Korean  New  Year's  day  five  hundred  yen,  which  the 
queen  requested  me  to  use  in  the  purchase  of  pearls,  or 
something  similar,  for  myself,  and  a  gift  as  well  for  my 
little  son. 

He  was  then  between  four  and  five  years  of  age,  and 
the  palace  women  were  constantly  urging  me  to  bring  him 
with  me  to  the  palace.  This,  of  course,  I  would  not  do 
without  a  special  request  from  their  majesties,  and  at 
length  one  day  the  queen  asked  why  I  had  never 
brought  him,  expressed  surprise  that  I  considered  an  in- 
vitation necessary,  and  bade  me  bring  him  next  day.  I 
therefore  took  him  to  the  palace,  and  no  sooner  had  the 
coolies  lowered  my  chair  than  the  women,  who  were  evi- 
dently on  the  watch  for  us,  clutched  him  up  and  bore  him 
away  in  triumph,  I,  his  mother,  knew  not  whither.  Some 
few  minutes  elapsed  before  I  was  asked  to  go  from  the 
waiting  room  to  the  audience,  during  which  I  employed 
my  time  in  lively  conjectures  as  to  what  was  happening 
to  my  kidnapped  son.  When  I  was  called  for  a  little  later 
I  found  him  with  the  royal  party,  the  center  of  an  admir- 
ing circle. 

Both  the  king  and  queen  have  always  shown  a  passion- 
ate fondness  for  children.  Only  a  few  months  ago  the 
king  spent  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  on  sor- 
cerers and  temples  in  trying  to  mollify  the  smallpox  god, 
which  had  attacked  the  youngest  son,  a  boy  of  about  six. 


A  LITTLE   CHILD  AT   THE   PALACE  117 

So  no  wonder  they  were  kind  to  the  small  American. 
The  queen  ordered  nuts  and  candies  brought  in,  and  in- 
sisted on  his  eating  then  and  there,  although,  knowing  that 
it  was  bad  form  in  the  eyes  of  Koreans  as  well  as  of  for- 
eigners to  eat  in  the  royal  presence,  and  fearing  for  his 
health  as  well  (for  he  had  never  as  yet  eaten  nuts),  I 
begged  her  majesty  to  allow  this  treat  to  be  postponed. 
His  looks  and  actions  were  praised  far  beyond  their  de- 
serts, and  every  expression  noted  and  remarked  upon. 
The  queen  drew  the  child  to  her  side  in  a  motherly 
fashion,  placing  her  hand  on  his  forehead,  remarked  anx- 
iously that  it  was  too  hot. 

When  we  were  ready  to  go,  the  king,  to  my  amazement, 
actually  knelt  down  in  front  of  the  baby,  and  with  his  own 
"jade"  fingers  buttoned  on  the  little  coat  and  made  a  brave 
attempt  to  tie  the  cap  strings,  one  of  which,  I  blush  to  con- 
fess, in  the  unfamiliar  tug  was  quite  torn  from  its  moor- 
ings. Of  course  I  was  overwhelmed  with  confusion  over 
the  bad  conduct  of  the  ribbon  on  such  an  occasion,  but  the 
king  overlooked  it,  and  farewells  were  said  and  again  the 
child  was  spirited  swiftly  away  by  the  palace  women.  I 
found  him  in  the  women's  quarters  handed  round  like  a 
curio  from  one  to  another,  petted,  caressed,  discussed, 
half- frightened,  but  demure. 

Poor  palace  women !  with  no  homes  or  children,  living 
such  an  aimless,  shut-in  life,  a  child  in  their  midst  was 
a  godsend  indeed.  But  all  Koreans  are  extremely  fond  of 
children.  A  child  is  an  open  sesame  to  their  hearts  and 
homes  at  all  times.  God  blesses  the  missionary  babies,  and 
these  little  preachers  open  doors  that  yield  to  no  other 
touch  than  their  little  dimpled  fingers.  From  palace  to 
hovel  I  never  found  a  woman  whose  heart  would  not 
soften,  whose  eyes  would  not  brighten,  whose  interest 
could  not  at  once  be  enlisted  by  the  sight  of  a  child. 


ii8      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

That  evening  as  we  returned  home  through  the  narrow 
and  winding  streets  of  Seoul  we  were  quite  an  imposing 
procession.  A  number  of  palace  lantern  bearers  accom- 
panied us,  each  carrying  the  gayly-colored  silk  official  lan- 
terns of  their  majesties,  and  preceding  us  were  a  train  of 
servants,  carrying  on  their  heads  great  trays  of  oranges, 
nuts,  dried  persimmons  and  candies.  It  took  little  imagi- 
nation, looking  at  those  men  in  their  Eastern  attire,  at  the 
lanterns  and  streets,  and  even  our  own  chair  with  its 
oriental  splendor,  to  transport  ourselves  into  the  middle  of 
a  chapter  of  the  Arabian  nights,  with  a  little  Aladdin  sit- 
ting in  my  lap  and  the  slaves  of  the  ring  attending  us 
home. 

Soon  after  Christmas  I  dressed  a  Christmas  tree  for  the 
royal  family,  but  to  my  great  vexation,  the  effect  was 
quite  spoiled  because  their  majesties  were  too  impatient  to 
wait  till  dark  to  view  it,  and  one  cannot  lock  the  doors  on 
kings  and  queens  and  forbid  them  to  do  as  they  will  in 
their  own  palaces.  There  were  no  heavy  hangings  or 
means  of  darkening  the  room,  and  so  the  poor  little 
candles  flickered  in  a  sickly  way  in  the  glaring  daylight, 
and  I  felt  that  Western  customs  were  lightly  esteemed  in 
the  critical  eyes  of  the  East. 

Indeed,  in  our  superb  self-satisfaction  we  often  deceive 
ourselves  in  fancying  that  Orientals  view  with  open- 
mouthed  admiration  everything  European  or  American. 
I  am  reminded  of  a  Korean  nobleman,  who,  on  being 
asked,  after  his  return  to  Seoul  from  America,  how  he 
liked  New  York,  replied,  "Oh,  very  well,  except  the  dirt 
and  the  smells,  which  were  horrible"  Another  similar  in- 
stance was  that  of  one  of  the  Koreans  who  went  with  us 
to  Chemulpo  and  Fusan,  who  saw  the  two-story  houses, 
the  ships  in  the  harbor  and  various  wonders  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  exclaimed,  "Poor  Korea,  poor  Korea;"  but  when 


THE    QUEEN'S    BENEFICENT    PLANS  119 

he  heard  a  foreign  band  play  at  the  Japanese  consulate, 
remarked  with  delight,  "At  least  there  is  one  thing  in 
which  Japan  cannot  rival  or  compare  with  us,  our  music !" 

Through  the  whole  winter  I  was  at  the  palace  very 
often,  as  were  the  ladies  of  the  American  and  Russian 
legations,  and  Dr.  Avison  of  our  mission,  who  was  phy- 
sician to  the  king,  was  frequently  consulted,  and  the  re- 
cipient also  personally  of  many  royal  favors.  In  the 
spring  the  prime  minister  came,  saying  the  queen  had  sent 
him  to  ask  Mr.  Underwood  to  draw  up  plans  and  estimate 
the  cost  of  a  school  for  the  sons  of  the  nobility.  The  site 
selected  was  between  the  east  and  west  palaces.  Her 
majesty  proposed  to  erect  dwellings  for  the  teachers, 
whom  my  husband  was  asked  to  recommend  and  send  for 
to  America.  The  queen  was  prepared,  the  minister  said, 
to  give  at  once  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  school,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  running 
expenses. 

Mr.  Underwood  drew  up  the  first  plans  and  made  esti- 
mates, which  were  sent  for  her  majesty's  criticism  and  ap- 
proval. These  were  again  referred  to  Mr.  Underwood, 
the  final  plans  were  being  prepared,  and  only  two  weeks 
before  they  were  to  be  sent  for  the  queen's  approval  the 
great  blow  fell  which  put  an  end  to  all  her  beneficent  and 
enlightened  schemes  for  the  advancement  of  her  people. 

Before  proceeding  further  I  must  go  back  a  few  years 
and  recall  one  or  two  events  which  occurred  before  my  ar- 
rival, in  1884,  in  order  that  my  readers  may  understand 
more  clearly  some  of  the  events  which  are  to  be  related  in 
the  next  two  or  three  chapters. 

In  that  year  the  progressive  or  reform  party  in  Korean 
politics  was  led  by  a  man  called  Kim  Ok  Kiun,  but  they 
were  continually  foiled  in  all  their  attempts  towards  ad- 
vance and  reform  by  the  conservatives,  and  at  length  re- 


120      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

ceived  reliable  information  (so  they  claimed)  that  a  plan 
had  been  formed  to  murder  all  their  prominent  leaders  at 
midnight,  on  December  the  fourth.  On  this  evening  a 
banquet  was  to  be  given  in  honor  of  the  opening  of  the 
Korean  post-office,  and  the  progressives  resolved  to  fore- 
stall the  plans  of  their  opponents,  and  just  before  the 
dinner  they  cut  down  Min  Yung  Ik,  the  queen's  cousin, 
and  the  most  influential  man  in  the  kingdom.  He  would 
have  died  had  it  not  been  for  the  prompt  assistance  given 
by  Dr.  Allen,  then  of  our  mission.  The  other  conservative 
leaders  were  then  ordered  to  the  palace,  as  they  supposed, 
by  royal  command,  but  were  there  (five  of  them)  assas- 
sinated by  the  progressive  party,  who,  headed  by  Kim 
Ok  Kiun,  then  seized  the  palace.  The  post-office  was 
burned  on  the  same  night,  and  with  it  the  new  stamps 
which  had  been  used  only  once. 

The  Japanese  minister  and  other  foreign  officials  were 
now  invited  to  the  palace,  which  invitation  was  accepted 
only  by  the  former,  who  brought  one  hundred  and  forty 
soldiers.  Here  the  Japanese  and  the  progressive  party 
were  attacked  by  three  thousand  Koreans  and  between 
two  and  three  thousand  Chinese.  As  the  event  grew  more  » 
than  doubtful,  the  king  was  allowed  to  go  over  to  the  other 
party,  in  the  belief  that  if  he  was  released  the  fighting 
would  cease.  Although  this  was  not  the  case,  the  little 
party  of  Japanese  fired  a  mine,  dispersed  a  large  number  of 
the  allies,  and  then  forming  a  square,  with  the  progressive 
leaders  and  the  Japanese  minister  in  the  center,  fought 
their  way  through  the  enemy,  and  the  hostile  streets,  first 
to  the  Japanese  legation,  and  after  that  to  the  river,  with 
the  loss  of  only  five  men.  After  much  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing boats,  they  crossed  the  river,  made  their  way  to  Che- 
mulpo, and  from  there  escaped  safely  to  Japan. 

The  picturesque  palace,  with  the  remarkably  beautiful 


A   HAUNTED    PALACE  121 

park  which  surrounds  it,  was  not  occupied  again  by  the 
queen.  Her  majesty  averred  that  it  was  impossible  to 
sleep  there  at  night  for  the  mournful  wailing  of  the  voices 
of  her  murdered  friends,  which  she  heard  continually  cry- 
ing, "Why  was  I  killed,  why  was  I  killed?"  So  now  the 
wind  whistles  and  moans  through  the  deserted  rooms, 
grass  and  weeds  push  their  way  through  the  crevices  of 
the  beautiful  marble  steps,  green  mould  grows  thick  on  the 
once  lovely  lotus  pond,  and  the  charming  little  summer 
pavilions  are  falling  to  ruins,  while  snakes  and  lizards 
slide  about  the  stone  seats.  The  wide  reaches  of  lawn  are 
overgrown  with  long  grass,  and  tigers  and  leopards  are 
said  to  make  their  lairs  in  the  noble  woods  and  grottoes. 
The  gateways  fashioned  in  various  charming  designs  to 
form  frames  as  it  were  for  the  beautiful  vistas  beyond,  are 
choked  with  a  wild  overgrowth  of  vines  and  weeds. 
Fancy  has  not  to  look  far,  or  listen  long,  to  read  in  all  this 
deserted  and  neglected  beauty  the  story  of  that  one  night 
of  blood  and  horror,  and  to  hear  in  every  chilled  whisper 
of  shuddering  foliage  the  word  "haunted." 

Ten  years  had  passed,  the  refugees  were  still  in  Japan, 
but  Eastern  vengeance  does  not  tire  or  sleep,  least  of  all 
forget.  A  man  named  Hong,  probably  employed  by  the 
government,  went  to  Japan,  ingratiated  himself  with  Kim 
Ok  Kiun,  decoyed  him  to  Shanghai,  and  there  murdered 
him,  and  on  April  the  I2th,  1894,  a  Chinese  gunboat 
brought  the  assassin  and  his  victim's  remains  to  Chemul- 
po. Arrived  in  Korea,  the  body  of  the  murdered  man  was 
divided  and  sent  through  the  eight  provinces.  Two  of 
the  other  refugees  had  gone  to  America,  and  one  Pak 
Yung  Ho  remained  in  Japan.  All  three  are  to  be  heard 
from  again.  While  we  all  shuddered  at  and  deplored  this 
revolting  deed,  a  stain  upon  any  government,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  man  was  a  political  criminal  of  the 


122      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

blackest  dye,  and  that  while  any  nation  would  under 
similar  circumstances,  if  possible,  have  executed  him  as  a 
traitor  and  assassin,  the  Korean  government  was  that  of 
unenlightened  Eastern  people  who  have  not  learned  that 
revenge  has  no  place  in  just  punishment. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Mr.  McKenzie — The  First  Church  Built  by  Natives — Mr. 
McKenzie's  Sickness — His  Death — Warning  to  New  Mis- 
sionaries— The  Tonghaks — Mr.  Underwood's  Trip  to  Sorai 
in  Summer — Native  Churches — Our  Use  of  Helpers — Chris- 
tians in  Seoul  Build  their  Own  Church — Epidemic  of 
Cholera — Unhygienic  Practices — Unsanitary  Condition  of 
City. 

IN  the  meanwhile,  in  the  fall  of  1894,  Mr.  McKenzie, 
who  had  arrived  from  Canada  in  the  winter  of  1893,  and, 
as  we  have  said,  had  gone  to  Dr.  Hall's  relief,  after  his 
return  decided  to  go  to  the  interior,  the  better  to  learn 
the  language  and  people,  and  to  live  there  as  much  as 
possible  in  every  way  like  a  native.  Mr.  Underwood  ad- 
vised him  to  go  to  the  village  of  Sorai,  or  Song  Chun, 
then  under  his  care,  where  he  had  baptized  almost  the  first 
converts  ever  received  in  the  Korean  church.  Here  he 
found  a  few  Christians  who  received  him  as  a  brother. 
He  made  his  home  with  one  of  them,  and  at  once  began  to 
preach  Christ  by  example.  Long  before  the  people  under- 
stood his  broken  Korean  they  read  his  beautiful  life,  and 
little  by  little  a  change  came  over  the  whole  community. 
We  all  thought  of  him  often  in  his  loneliness  in  that  far- 
off  hamlet,  where,  though  he  was  a  great  light  to  the  peo- 
ple, there  was  no  real  companionship  for  him.  At  Christ- 
mas we  sent  him  a  box  of  home-made  bread,  plumb- 
cake,  canned  fruits  and  vegetables,  tea  and  milk  and  sugar, 
for  we  knew  he  had  no  foreign  food  and  that  he  was  living 
solely  on  Korean  diet,  but  we  did  not  know  that  it  con- 


124      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

sisted  of  rice  chiefly,  with  a  chicken  once  a  week,  and  oc- 
casionally a  few  eggs. 

When  our  box  reached  him,  he  handed  the  contents  all 
over  to  the  Koreans.  He  wrote  that  he  dared  not  taste 
them,  knowing  that  if  he  did  it  would  be  impossible  to  go 
back  to  native  food.  Meanwhile  one  and  another  of  the 
villagers  and  people  in  the  vicinity  were  giving  up  their 
old  heathen  idols  and  turning  to  Christ. 

Some  years  before  the  Christians  of  that  village  had 
asked  Mr.  Underwood  to  give  them  a  church,  but,  like  the 
young  man  who  came  to  Jesus,  they  went  away  sorrowful, 
when  told  they  must  build  it  themselves.  Now,  however, 
they  again  took  up  the  idea  in  a  different  spirit.  Near  the 
village  was  a  rising  piece  of  ground  on  which  stood  a 
little  grove,  in  midst  of  which  had  been  for  many  years  the 
shrine  where  the  village  deities  were  worshiped.  This  had 
long  been  neglected  and  destroyed,  and  here  it  was  de- 
cided to  build  the  new  church.  Every  one  gave  as  the 
Lord  had  prospered  him,  gladly,  enthusiastically,  and  a 
heathen  master  builder  undertook  to  direct  the  erection  of 
the  building  on  half  pay,  because  it  was  for  the  great 
"chief  God  of  heaven,"  as  he  understood.  Very  likely  he 
knew  little  enough  of  the  one  only  God  for  whose  service 
it  was  raised,  but  not  very  long  after  he  learned  both  to 
know  and  love  him. 

The  little  meeting  house  was  not  a  very  imposing  or 
lofty  structure.  It  could  boast  nothing  of  the  magnifi- 
cence of  our  American  churches,  no  doubt  it  would  blush 
to  be  called  a  church  at  all  in  such  a  stately  company,  so 
I  will  call  it  a  chapel,  and  even  then  it  was  an  humble  and 
unpretentious  one,  but  it  was  the  best  building  in  the  place. 
The  poor  people  put  into  it  their  best  wood,  stones  and 
tiles,  the  loving  labor  of  their  own  hands,  with  fervent 
prayer.  When  it  was  finished  no  debt  hung  over  it,  and 


PARTY    STARTING    OUT    IN     MORNING    FROM     THATCHED    INN.        PAGE     199 
CHURCH    AT   SORAI.        PAGE    124 


A    WARNING    TO    NEW    MISSIONARIES          125 

God,  who  does  not  see  as  man  sees,  blessed  and  honored 
it  by  filling  it  to  overflowing  with  simple-minded,  sincere, 
earnest  people,  who  came  with  hearts  ready  to  receive  with 
meekness  his  word. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1895,  Mr.  McKenzie  wrote,  ask- 
ing Mr.  Underwood  to  go  and  dedicate  the  church  and  re- 
ceive a  number  of  applicants  for  baptism.  This  he 
promised  to  do,  but  just  before  he  was  to  start,  one  sad 
day  in  July,  when  a  number  of  us  had  met  to  hold  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  a  messenger  came  with  the  news 
of  the  deadly  illness  of  our  dear  brother,  Mr.  McKenzie. 
The  pitiful  letter,  written  with  his  own  trembling  fingers, 
showing  in  every  sentence  the  evidence  of  terrible  suffer- 
ing and  of  a  mind  already  unhinged,  was  followed  imme- 
diately by  the  shocking  news  of  his  death.  The  blow  fell 
like  a  thunderbolt.  Such  zeal,  consecration  and  usefulness 
cut  short  so  soon ! 

It  was  strange,  and  yet  there  was  a  lesson  in  it  for  the 
noblest  class  of  missionaries.  And  here  let  me  say  just  a 
few  words  of  warning  to  some  who  may  have  the  foreign 
field  in  view,  and  to  some  who  are  perhaps  already  on  the 
field.  There  are  men  and  women,  who,  being  John  the 
Baptist  sort  of  people,  enter  the  work  with  such  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  and  allow  themselves  to  become  so  over- 
whelmed with  the  awful  responsibility  for  these  dying 
millions  (which  indeed  every  true  missionary  feels  only 
too  heavily),  that  they  forget  the  just  demands  of  the  body 
of  this  death.  They  forget  that  a  solitary  life  gradually 
unseats  the  intellect,  and  that  a  body  which  has  reached 
maturity,  fed  on  plenty  of  nutritious  food,  cannot  sudden- 
ly be  shifted  to  a  meagre,  unaccustomed  and  distasteful 
diet  of  foreign  concoction,  and  retain  its  power  to  resist 
disease,  and  to  accomplish  the  heavy  work  they  mercilessly 
exact  from  it,  like  Egyptian  taskmasters  demanding  brick 


126      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

without  straw.  They  forget  that  the  spirit  cannot  remain 
united  to  the  body  unless  the  claims  of  the  latter  (in  which 
are  included  those  of  the  brain)  are  satisfied,  and  so  they 
drop,  one  by  one,  our  noblest  and  most  needed  laborers. 
But  even  so,  they  do  not  die  entirely  in  vain,  they  leave  an 
example  of  Christlikeness  and  devotion  which  preaches 
eloquently,  and  is  an  inspiration  to  all  their  brethren. 

And  yet  if  they  could  only  have  gone  on  living  and 
preaching,  as  they  might,  had  they  been  able  to  mix  with 
their  enthusiasm  and  consecration,  wisdom  and  temper- 
ance! During  my  short  experience  I  have  seen  several 
illustrations  of  what  Mr.  McKenzie's  death  brought  home 
so  startlingly  to  us  all.  We  learned  afterwards  that  he  had 
been  sick  for  some  weeks,  his  mind  had  been  somewhat 
affected  early  in  the  history  of  the  disease,  the  progress  of 
which  had  not  been  very  rapid,  but  as  he  had  no  com- 
panion who  could  observe  the  danger  signals,  and  no 
doctor  to  help,  his  invaluable  life  was  lost. 

The  more  intelligent  natives  urged  him  to  send  for  a 
doctor,  but  he  hesitated  to  call  others  from  their  work  to 
undertake  a  long  difficult  trip  in  the  unhealthy  summer 
season,  lest  it  should  prove  to  be  only  a  passing  temporary 
ailment.  And  so  he  went  on  doctoring  himself  (just  as 
any  missionary  alone  in  the  interior  is  tempted  to  do),  de- 
laying to  call  for  help,  from  his  very  unselfishness  and 
conscientious  fear  of  giving  trouble. 

"Take  care  of  your  head.  Don't  work  too  long  in  the 
sun,"  he  said  to  an  old  woman  by  the  roadside,  "or  you 
may  lose  your  mind  as  I  have." 

He  related  to  his  friend,  the  Korean  leader,  accounts  of 
long  nights  of  anguished  struggle  with  Satan,  and  then 
again  of  hours  of  ecstatic  joy  with  his  Saviour.  The  intol- 
erable agony  in  his  head  grew  steadily  worse,  until  the 
end.  The  Koreans  felt  the  terrible  blow  deeply,  but  they 


THE   TONGHAKS  127 

have  never  ceased  to  love  and  revere  Mr.  McKenzie's 
memory.  They  cannot  speak  of  him  now  after  a  lapse  of 
several  years  without  tears.  Their  loving  hands  prepared 
him  for  the  grave  and  covered  his  bier  with  flowers. 
They  held  a  funeral  service  as  best  they  knew,  after  our 
custom,  with  prayers  and  hymns,  and  laid  his  loved  re- 
mains in  a  quiet  place,  not  far  from  the  little  church  which 
he  had  been  the  instrument  in  God's  hands  of  building. 
His  influence  is  still  felt  in  the  village  and  for  miles 
around.  He  lived  Christ  and  laid  the  foundations  of  that 
church  on  a  rock.  He  had  a  reputation  for  great  courage 
and  prowess,  and  it  is  said  that  his  presence  alone  saved 
Sorai  from  invasions  of  Tonghaks. 

This  society  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  opening 
of  the  China- Japan  war,  its  name  means  literally  Eastern 
doctrine,  and  its  aim  was  in  brief,  "the  East  for  Eastern- 
ers," or  "Korea  for  Koreans."  They  declared  their  de- 
sire and  intention  to  down  all  Westerners,  Western  ideas, 
reforms  and  changes,  and  to  restore  and  re-establish  old 
laws  and  customs.  The  sudden  organization  and  wonder- 
ful popularity  of  this  society  was  doubtless  caused  by  the 
outrageous  conduct  of  many  corrupt  officials,  who  ground 
down  the  people  mercilessly  with  unjust  taxation  and 
brought  about  a  general  feeling  of  unrest  and  bitter  dis- 
content. 

They  were  in  many  respects  like  the  Boxers  of  China, 
and  believed  they  had  immunity  from  death  and  could  not 
be  hurt  by  bullets.  They  soon  spread  all  over  the  land, 
a  terror  to  officials,  and  the  Korean  government  was 
powerless  to  stop  them.  They  gave  up  the  worship  of  all 
minor  deities  and  honored  only  the  Lord  of  the  heavens. 
They  forced  people  everywhere  to  join  their  ranks  and 
subscribe  for  their  support,  levying  taxes  on  small  and 
great.  Starting  like  many  other  movements,  in  a  good 


128      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

and  patriotic  determination  to  do  away  with  abuses  and  in- 
stitute reforms,  it  grew  into  a  great  evil  and  terror  in  the 
whole  land.  Bad  and  unprincipled  men,  of  whom  there 
are  plenty  in  all  climes,  who  are  restless  and  ready  to 
throw  themselves  into  anything  which  promises  a  change, 
knowing  that  no  change  can  be  for  the  worse  for  them, 
joined  in  large  numbers,  and  many  companies  of  Tong- 
haks  differed  only  in  name  from  bands  of  robbers.  As  has 
been  said,  the  government  could  make  no  headway  against 
them,  and  whether  or  not  the  aid  of  China  was  officially 
sought,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  but  the  fact  that  China 
did  send  troops  to  Korea,  nominally  to  control  this  up- 
rising, was  used  by  the  Japanese,  who  claimed  that  a 
mutual  agreement  existed  between  Japan  and  China  that 
neither  should  introduce  troops  into  Korea  without  the 
consent  of  the  other,  as  a  casus  belli,  and  they  forthwith 
sent  an  army  to  Korea,  seized  the  palace,  and  sunk  a 
transport  bringing  Chinamen  to  Chemulpo. 

So  much  for  a  brief  explanation  of  the  Tonghaks. 
Large  companies  of  these  men  threatened  on  three  dif- 
ferent occasions  to  raid  Sorai  while  Mr.  McKenzie  was 
there.  To  show  that  he  leaned  on  no  earthly  defense,  but 
only  on  the  arm  of  the  almighty  God,  he  took  his  gun  all 
to  pieces  when  he  heard  of  their  approach.  They  were 
told  of  this,  and  were  deeply  impressed ;  and  were  so  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  if  he  was  leaning  on  some  mys- 
terious power  with  such  strong  confidence,  it  would  be 
useless  and  worse  to  attack  him,  that  they  gave  up  their 
plan.  The  third  time  they  decided  to  attack  the  place  they 
were  said  to  be  ten  thousand  strong,  but  after  coming  part 
way,  they  turned  back,  and  never  again  threatened  Sorai, 
which  was  the  only  village  in  that  section  which  was  never 
raided. 

One  day  Mr.  McKenzie  heard  that  a  tiger  was  prowling 


BOYS     PEDDLING 


WAITING    IN    SUSPENSE  129 

around  in  the  vicinity,  and  started  out  with  his  shotgun 
to  hunt  the  beast,  but  fortunately  did  not  have  a  chance  to 
try  conclusions  with  that  weapon,  which,  however  useful 
in  killing  partridges,  would  not  be  likely  to  do  more  than 
tease  a  tiger.  As  soon  as  we  received  news  of  his  death, 
Mr.  Underwood  and  Dr.  Wells  started  that  very  day  for 
Sorai,  to  arrange  his  effects,  make  sure  the  death  had  been 
as  reported,  and  comfort  and  encourage  the  native  Chris- 
tians. Before  they  returned,  Mr.  Underwood  dedicated 
the  little  church,  which  was  packed  almost  to  suffocation, 
with  crowds  standing  around  the  doors  and  windows.  He 
baptized  on  that  day  quite  a  little  company,  as  well  as  ad- 
mitted a  large  number  of  catechumens  and  held  a 
memorial  service  for  Mr.  McKenzie. 

Mr.  Underwood  was  kept  longer  than  I  expected  on  this 
trip,  and  there  were  no  means  of  postal  or  telegraphic  com- 
munication. We  women,  whose  husbands  go  hundreds  of 
miles  into  the  interior,  realize  that  we  must  take  strong 
hold  on  God,  and  learn  patience  and  faith.  When  the  time 
for  Mr.  Underwood's  return  had  passed,  and  no  news 
came,  I  remembered  flooded  rivers,  bands  of  Tonghaks, 
the  various  forms  of  deadly  disease  that  may  attack  the 
man  who  travels  in  the  country  in  July  or  August,  and 
the  waiting  and  suspense  grew  harder  every  day. 

Every  morning  I  looked  up  the  road,  where  it  curves 
around  the  hill,  to  see  if  he  were  coming.  Every  evening 
when  the  hateful  twilight  hurried  into  darkness,  I  strained 
my  aching  vision  along  the  awful  emptiness  of  that  road, 
and  all  night  long  I  listened  for  the  plash  of  oars  on  the 
river,  or  almost  fancied  I  heard  his  voice  as  the  boats 
rounded  the  point,  for  he  might  come  in  a  boat.  Some- 
times I  saw  Japanese  coming  in  the  distance,  and  deceived 
by  their  dark  clothes,  thought  it  was  he.  Once  a  native 
chair  came  up  the  road  near  the  house,  and  they  told  me 


130      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

he  had  come,  but  it  was  only  a  stranger,  and  the  chair 
passed  on.  Yet  my  case  was  not  harder  than  that  of  many 
women  in  the  homelands  who  must  all  learn  what  anxious 
suspense  and  long  vigils  mean,  but  at  length,  fearing  he 
was  seriously  sick,  I  concluded  that  I  would  go  and  find 
him. 

To  do  this  secrecy  was  necessary,  for  none  of  my  for- 
eign friends  would  allow  me  to  go  at  that  season,  if  they 
were  informed  of  my  intention.  So  I  called  up  Mr. 
Underwood's  trusted  literary  assistant,  and  arranged  with 
him  to  hire  ponies.  I  planned  to  start  from  our  house 
in  Seoul  (we  were  then  at  the  river  cottage),  and  as  nearly 
every  one  was  out  of  town,  expected  to  be  able  to  get 
away  without  any  one's  knowledge.  But  on  the  very  day, 
word  came  that  he  had  already  started,  and  was  well  on 
his  way  home,  his  ponies  had  returned,  and  he,  coming  by 
water,  was  almost  due.  No  use  to  go  now,  and  in  a  day  or 
two  he  was  safe  among  us  again,  and  again  in  contrition  I 
heard  the  gentle  rebuke,  "Oh  ye  of  little  faith,  wherefore 
did  ye  doubt?" 

The  church  in  Sorai  was  the  first  built  and  paid  for  by 
the  natives,  was  in  fact  the  first  Presbyterian  church  built 
in  Korea.  The  Christian  natives  in  Seoul  had  met  in  a 
little  guest-house  on  our  place,  and  in  similar  rooms  in 
other  sub-stations.  So,  Sorai  in  the  van  set  the  marching 
order,  and  all  others,  with  almost  no  exceptions  (in  the 
Presbyterian  missions),  have  followed  in  their  lead. 

Paid  pastors  none  of  them  have,  but  all  the  stronger 
ones  employ  evangelists,  whom  they  often  pay  in  rice  or 
fields  or  wood,  to  systematically  carry  the  gospel  to  their 
heathen  neighbors.  It  is  our  custom  to  select  in  each 
church  the  most  earnest  and  intelligent  of  the  Christians 
as  a  leader,  who  takes  charge  of  the  services,  and  oversight 
of  the  flock,  and  reports  progress  to  the  missionary  in 


charge.  The  leaders  are  gathered  once  a  year,  at  the  time 
when  farmers  have  most  leisure,  at  some  central  place,  and 
instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  church  govern- 
ment and  history,  and  careful  exegetical  Bible  study. 
They  are  carefully  trained  in  conducting  religious  services 
and  in  preparing  illustrated  Bible  readings.  In  every  way 
possible  the  missionary  tries  to  fit  these  men  for  their 
duties.  Mr.  Underwood  is  accustomed  to  hold  one  of 
these  classes  in  the  city  for  those  who  live  near  enough, 
and  one  in  the  country  for  those  who  are  at  too  great  a 
distance  to  attend  the  city  class,  and  I  believe  nearly  all 
the  others  do  the  same. 

Such  is  the  interest  felt  in  the  gatherings  and  the  thirst 
for  more  light,  that  many  who  are  not  invited,  and  who 
hold  no  office  in  the  church,  travel  many  miles,  bringing 
their  own  rice,  to  attend  these  classes,  which  are  often 
crowded  to  overflowing.  The  church  leaders  are  rarely 
paid  any  salary,  even  by  the  natives.  Each  missionary 
engaged  in  evangelistic  work  is  allowed  one  paid  helper,  at 
five  dollars  a  month.  This  man  employs  his  whole  time  in 
this  way,  and  some  missionaries  who  have  a  large  field 
under  their  care  are  allowed  two  such  assistants. 

Mr.  Underwood  has  always  had  a  good  many  men, 
who  freely  gave  the  greater  part  of  their  time  to  the  work, 
or  who  were  paid  by  the  native  Christians,  or  were  pro- 
vided by  him  with  some  means  of  gaining  their  living 
which  would  admit  of  their  giving  much  time  to  the  work. 
Some  would  peddle  quinine,  at  sufficient  profit  to  make  a 
good  living.  Each  bottle  is  wrapped  with  a  tract,  and 
pains  were  taken  to  insure  only  the  best  article  being 
placed  in  the  hands  of  these  dealers.  Some  of  these  men 
are  placed  in  charge  of  little  book  shops,  without  any 
salary,  some  in  charge  of  a  chapel  or  dispensary,  the 
privilege  of  occupying  the  house  their  only  pay.  There 


132      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

are  always  a  number  of  young  men  around  him  glad  and 
proud  to  be  asked  to  serve  on  a  special  mission  here  or 
there,  and  the  young  men's  missionary  societies  band 
themselves  together  for  systematic  gospel  work,  so  that 
they  each  week  visit  some  village,  distributing  tracts  and 
preaching.  All  these,  with  the  leaders,  who  are  always  at 
his  disposal  for  work  in  their  own  vicinity,  form  a  valuable 
corps  of  helpers.  This  plan,  or  something  like  it,  I  believe, 
is  carried  out  by  all  the  evangelistic  missionaries  in  the 
Presbyterian  missions.  Mr.  Underwood,  also,  copying 
from  the  Methodists,  established  a  circle  of  class  meetings 
among  the  Christians  under  his  care  in  and  around  Seoul. 

The  class  leaders  meet  with  him  once  a  week,  each 
bringing  his  book,  make  a  report  of  attendances,  absences, 
sickness,  removals,  backslidings,  deaths  and  conversions. 
The  class  leader,  being,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  best  man 
in  his  class,  and  in  a  way  responsible  for  it,  becomes  again 
a  very  useful  helper. 

During  the  spring  of  1895  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
Chong  Dong,  Seoul,  decided  to  build  themselves  a  place  of 
worship.  The  people  were  all  of  them  poor,  even  accord- 
ing to  Korean  ideas,  paper-hangers,  carpenters,  small  re- 
tail shopkeepers,  farmers,  policemen,  soldiers,  interpreters, 
writers,  copyists,  even  chair  coolies,  gardeners  and 
peddlers,  the  richest  of  them  rarely  earning  more  than  five 
dollars  in  gold  a  month.  So  we  missionaries  decided  to 
raise  the  most  of  the  two  thousand  yen  necessary  among 
ourselves,  encouraging  the  natives  to  give  as  much  as  they 
could. 

Mr.  Underwood,  however,  in  trying  to  impress  them 
with  the  duty  of  supporting  the  Lord's  work  liberally,  was 
met  one  day  with  the  remark,  that  this  was  called  a  for- 
eign religion,  and  so  it  was  difficult  to  convince  natives 
that  foreigners  should  not  pay  its  way.  "And  so  it  will 


AN    EPIDEMIC    OF    CHOLERA  133 

continue  to  be  regarded, "said  my  husband, "just  as  long  as 
you  allow  foreign  money  to  be  used  in  carrying  it  forward. 
When  you  build  and  own  your  churches,  send  out  your 
own  evangelists,  and  support  your  own  schools,  then  both 
you  and  others  will  feel  and  realize  it  is  not  a  foreign 
affair,  but  your  own." 

"Then,"  said  the  deacon,  "we  will  build  the  Chong 
Dong  church  ourselves."  Mr.  Underwood  was  astonished. 
"How  can  you  build  such  a  church?"  said  he.  The  deacon 
replied,  "Does  the  pastor  ask  such  a  question  of  what  re- 
lates to  God's  work?  With  God  all  things  are  possible." 
Nothing,  of  course,  remained  to  be  said.  The  missionaries 
decided  that  it  would  be  wiser  for  them  to  own  the  land, 
in  case  of  possible  political  complications,  but  the  building 
itself  would  cost  the  whole  of  one  thousand  yen.  The  peo- 
ple went  to  work  with  a  will,  the  pastor  and  one  or  two 
other  missionaries  took  off  their  coats  and  lent  a  hand  at 
the  work,  boys  hauled  stones,  Korean  gentlemen,  scholars, 
and  teachers  who  had  never  lifted  anything  heavier  than 
a  pen,  set  themselves  to  work  on  the  building,  carpenters 
gave  their  skilled  labor  every  alternate  day,  working  for 
their  own  living  only  one  out  of  every  two,  women  saved  a 
little  rice  from  each  bowl  prepared  for  the  family  until 
enough  was  laid  aside  to  be  sold,  and  gave  the  money  thus 
earned,  and  so  in  manifold  ways  the  money  came  in  and 
the  work  grew.  At  length,  however,  there  were  no  more 
funds  and  the  building  came  to  a  standstill.  No  one  was 
willing  to  go  into  debt,  even  to  borrow  of  the  missionaries, 
and  it  was  decided  to  wait  until  the  way  opened. 

Just  when  everything  seemed  hopelessly  blocked,  the 
epidemic  of  Asiatic  cholera  broke  out.  Why  Koreans  do 
not  have  this  every  summer  raging  through  the  whole 
country  is  one  of  the  unsolved  problems.  All  sewage  runs 
into  filthy,  narrow  ditches,  which  are  frequently  stopped  up 


134      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

with  refuse,  so  as  to  overflow  into  the  streets,  green  slimy 
pools  of  water  lie  undisturbed  in  courtyards  and  along 
the  side  of  the  road,  wells  are  polluted  with  drainage  from 
soiled  apparel  washed  close  by,  quantities  of  decaying 
vegetable  matter  are  thrown  out  and  left  to  rot  on  the 
thoroughfares  and  under  the  windows  of  the  houses. 
Every  imaginable  practice  which  comes  under  the  defini- 
tion of  unhygienic  or  unsanitary  is  common.  Even  young 
children  in  arms  eat  raw  and  green  cucumbers,  unpeeled, 
acrid  berries  and  heavy  soggy  hot  bread.  They  bolt  quan- 
tities of  hot  or  cold  rice,  with  a  tough,  indigestible  cab- 
bage, washed  in  ditch  water,  prepared  with  turnips  and 
flavored  with  salt  and  red  pepper.  Green  fruit  of  every 
kind  is  eaten  with  perfect  recklessness  of  all  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  with  impunity  (and  I  must  say,  an  average 
immunity  from  disastrous  consequence)  which  makes  a 
Westerner  stand  aghast.  Any  of  us  would  surely  die 
promptly  and  deservedly  if  we  presumed  to  venture  one- 
tenth  of  the  impertinences  and  liberties  with  Dame  Nature 
which  a  Korean  smilingly  and  unconcernedly  takes  for 
granted  as  his  common  right. 

The  only  solution  I  have  ever  reached,  and  that  I  hold 
but  weakly,  is,  that  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,  none  but  exceptionally  hardy  specimens 
ever  reach  adolescence,  or  even  early  childhood,  and  that 
having  survived  the  awful  tests  of  infancy,  they  are  able 
to  endure  most  trials  which  befall  later. 

But  even  these,  so  to  speak,  galvanized-iron  interiors  are 
not  always  proof.  It  takes  time,  but  every  five  or  six 
years,  by  great  care  and  industry,  a  bacillus  develops  itself, 
so  hardened,  so  well  armed,  so  deeply  toxic,  that  even  Ko- 
reans must  succumb,  and  then  there  is  an  epidemic  of 
cholera.  Eight  years  before,  in  1887,  the  plague  swept 
through  the  land,  and  thousands  fell.  Christians,  both 


UNSANITARY    CONDITIONS  135 

missionaries  and  natives,  united  in  prayers  that  God  would 
stay  the  scourge.  Physicians  pronounced  it  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  nature  that  it  should  stop  before  frost  came  to 
kill  the  bacilli,  but,  in  wonderful  justification  of  faith,  the 
ravages  of  the  plague  were  abruptly  checked  in  the  midst 
of  the  terrible  heat  of  the  last  days  of  August  and  the  first 
of  September. 


CHAPTER   IX 

Difficulty  of  Enforcing  Quarantine  Regulations — Greedy  Officials 
"Eat"  Relief  Funds — Americans  Stand  Alone  to  Face  the 
Foe — The  Emergency  Cholera  Hospital — The  Inspection 
Officers— We  Decide  to  Use  the  Shelter— A  Pathetic  Case 
— The  Jesus  Man — Gratitude  of  the  Koreans — The  New 
Church — The  Murder  of  the  Queen — Testimony  of  Foreign- 
ers—The Official  Report. 

AND  now  again  the  rod  was  to  fall.  The  disease  began 
with  terrible  violence,  men  in  full  vigor  in  the  morning 
were  corpses  at  noon,  several  members  of  the  same  family 
often  dying  the  same  day.  It  cropped  out  in  one  neigh- 
borhood after  another  with  a  steadily  marked  increase 
every  day,  that  was  frightful  in  its  unrelenting,  unswerv- 
ing ferocity.  The  Japanese  and  many  of  the  more  en- 
lightened Koreans  took  the  alarm  early,  and  seeking  the 
counsel  of  European  and  American  physicians  planned  to 
establish  quarantine  and  sanitary  regulations  for  the 
whole  country,  but  as  an  astute  young  Korean  sadly  re- 
marked, "It  is  easy  enough  to  make  the  laws,  it  is  more 
than  doubtful  whether  they  can  be  enforced." 

If  officials  and  soldiers  are  sent  to  enforce  quarantine, 
there  is  little  doubt  among  those  who  know  customs  and 
people  that  only  too  many  of  them  will  be  susceptible  to  a 
very  small  bribe.  When  the  necessity  for  quarantining 
Seoul  from  Chemulpo  was  mentioned,  the  high  officials 
themselves  said  it  would  be  impossible  on  account  of  the 
importance  of  the  trade  between  the  two  places.  One  in- 


OFFICIAL   CORRUPTION  137 

stance  will  show  the  hopelessness  of  the  attempt  to  carry 
out  sanitary  regulations. 

In  the  effort  to  prevent  the  enormous  and  insane  con- 
sumption of  green  apples,  melons  and  cucumbers,  the  sale 
of  these  articles  was  forbidden  with  a  penalty  for  buyer 
and  seller,  and  notices  of  the  law  posted  everywhere.  And 
yet,  soon  after,  my  husband  passed  a  stand  where  they 
were  being  sold  in  large  numbers,  over  which  one  of  these 
very  notices  was  hung,  and  several  policemen  among  the 
buyers  were  munching  the  forbidden  fruit  with  a  calm 
relish,  edifying  to  behold.  It  is  due  to  the  government  to 
say  that  they  seemed  thoroughly  awakened  to  the  situation 
and  were  doing  all  in  their  power,  but  were  handicapped 
by  the  deplorable  corruption  of  many  officials.  Twenty 
thousand  yen  (ten  thousand  dollars)  were  granted  to  fix 
up  a  temporary  emergency  cholera  hospital,  enforce  sani- 
tary laws  and  prevent  the  advance  of  the  plague,  but  this 
money  was,  to  use  a  common  Korean  phrase,  "eaten"  by 
greedy  underlings  on  all  hands.  In  the  preparation  of  the 
hospital,  more  than  twice  the  number  of  carpenters  needed 
were  employed,  and  these  men  passed  their  time  making 
little  articles  for  private  sale,  or  in  standing  about  doing 
nothing.  A  number  of  petty  officials  were  hired  to  do 
little,  and  improved  on  their  commission  by  doing  nothing 
but  receive  their  pay. 

At  a  general  meeting  of  the  physicians  then  in  the  city, 
European,  American  and  Japanese,  Dr.  Avison  having 
been  chosen  by  vote  director  of  this  emergency  hospital 
and  the  sanitary  work,  the  Japanese  all  withdrew,  saying 
they  did  not  care  to  work  under  a  Westerner,  and  in  the 
end  the  Americans  only  were  left  to  face  the  foe. 

After  many  discouragements  and  hindrances  an  old  bar- 
racks building  was  roughly  prepared  to  receive  patients, 
and  a  corps  of  nurses  and  doctors,  composed  of  quite  a 


138      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

number  of  missionaries  (Methodists,  Baptists  and  Presby- 
terians, with  the  assistance  of  hired  Koreans)  was 
formed.  The  building  was  very  poorly  fitted  up  for  such 
an  exigency,  the  haste  with  which  it  was  necessary  to  get 
it  ready,  and  the  character  of  the  place,  precluded  the  pos- 
sibility of  making  it  very  suitable  for  the  purpose.  It  was 
open,  damp  and  chilly,  with  no  means  of  warming  or 
secluding  the  patients.  It  was  only  scantily  furnished 
with  such  absolute  necessities  as  could  be  had  at  short 
notice  in  the  city.  And  think  not,  Oh  civilized  medical 
community  in  America!  that  "necessities"  according  to 
your  ideas  are  synonomous  with  "necessities"  according 
to  our  possibilities  in  Asia.  Perhaps  you  have  a  fossilized 
idea  that  beds  and  sheets  and  pillows  are  necessities.  By 
no  means.  Our  patients  lay  on  the  floor,  covered  with 
small  cotton  wool  rugs,  and  back-breaking  business  it  was 
to  nurse  them. 

But  the  discouragements  connected  with  our  work  was 
not  merely  the  lack  of  conveniences  and  almost  dire 
necessities,  or  the  want  of  proper  inforcement  of  sanitary 
regulations  and  of  co-operation,  and  although  Dr.  Avison 
and  the  foreign  staff  under  him  worked  heroically,  and 
with  unwearied  devotion,  it  was  an  unequal  struggle. 
The  majority  of  natives  are  not  willing  to  go  to  hospitals, 
and  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  try  to  force  them, 
while  many  will  not  permit  foreign  doctors  to  treat  them 
even  in  their  homes,  or  else  use  Korean  medicines  with 
ours.  But  alas !  in  many  cases  the  disease  is  so  violent  as 
to  defy  all  that  science,  aided  by  every  advantage,  can  do. 

It  is  the  most  desperately,  deadly  thing  I  ever  saw,  and 
often  medicines  seem  useless  to  do  more  than  slightly 
defer  the  ultimate  result.  The  poison  attacks  the  nerve 
centers  at  once,  and  every  organ  is  affected.  Terrible 
cramps  contract  the  muscles,  the  heart  fails,  the  extremi- 


THE   INSPECTION    OFFICERS  139 

ties  grow  cold,  the  pulse  becomes  imperceptible,  the  mind 
wanders,  or  suddenly,  without  previous  symptoms,  the 
victim  falls  and  dies  at  once.  Or,  after  the  most  violent 
symptoms  of  the  disease  have  disappeared,  vomiting  and 
pain  have  ceased,  the  pulse  has  become  almost  normal  and 
the  patient  nearly  ready  to  be  discharged,  a  mysterious 
change  comes,  and  the  poor  victim  dies  of  pneumonia, 
uraemic  convulsions,  or  some  of  the  other  sequellse  of  this 
frightful  disease. 

Mr.  Underwood  vas  placed  in  charge  of  inspection 
offices,  which  were  opened  in  different  districts  over  the 
whole  city,  and  all  cases  reported  there  received  imme- 
diate attention.  Several  of  his  young  Christians  were 
trained  by  him  to  carry  on  this  work,  he  himself  at  first 
going  out  with  them,  hunting  up  infected  localities,  using 
disinfectants,  and  teaching  the  helpers  and  residents  how 
to  purify  the  premises.  These  young  men  worked  inde- 
fatigably,  with  intelligence,  enthusiasm  and  courage. 
The  inspectors  and  all  the  doctors  and  nurses  wore  a 
badge,  consisting  of  the  red  cross  over  the  Korean  flag,  so 
that  even  in  heathen  Korea  the  sign  of  the  cross  was  car- 
ried everywhere,  and  dominated  the  emblem  of  the  Korean 
government. 

The  people  picked  up  the  idea  that  lime  was  a  mys- 
terious agent  in  preventing  disease,  so  it  was  not  un- 
common to  see  a  handful  of  it  scattered,  a  few  grains  here 
and  there,  along  the  edges  of  some  of  the  filthiest  ditches, 
or  a  gourd  whitewashed  with  lime  hanging  by  the  door 
as  a  sort  of  charm  to  drive  away  cholera. 

Koreans  call  it  "the  rat  disease,"  believing  that  cramps 
are  rats  gnawing  and  crawling  inside  the  legs,  going  up 
till  the  heart  is  reached ;  so  they  offer  prayers  to  the  spirit 
of  the  cat,  hang  a  paper  cat  on  the  house  door,  and  rub 
their  cramps  with  a  cat's  skin.  They  offered  prayers  and 


140      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

sacrifices  in  various  high  places  to  the  heavens — Hananim 
— and  some  of  the  streets  in  infected  districts  were  almost 
impassable  on  account  of  ropes  stretched  across,  about 
five  feet  high,  at  intervals  of  about  every  twenty-five  feet, 
to  which  paper  prayers  were  attached.  As  my  coolies, 
trying  to  pass  along  with  my  chair,  broke  one  of  these,  I 
could  not  help  admonishing  the  owner  who  came  to  its 
rescue,  "Better  put  them  up  a  little  higher." 

Aye,  put  them  up  higher,  poor  Korean  brother,  they 
are  far  too  near  the  earth!  One  of  the  most  pathetic 
sights  in  connection  with  this  plague  were  these  poor, 
wind-torn,  rain-bedraggled,  paper  prayers,  hanging  help- 
lessly everywhere,  the  offering  of  blind  superstition  to 
useless  dumb  gods  who  can  neither  pity  nor  hear. 

"They  reach  lame  hands  of  faith  and  grope 
And  gather  dust  and  chaff." 

Early  in  August  it  was  decided,  as  the  plague  seemed  on 
the  increase,  to  fill  the  "Shelter"  with  cholera  patients, 
and  Dr.  Avison  assigned  to  Dr.  Wells,  Mr.  Underwood 
and  myself  the  supervision  and  care  of  this  place. 

The  "Shelter,"  situated  on  a  good  high  site  outside  the 
walls,  with  a  number  of  comfortable  rooms,  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  hot  floors  (which  proved  an  unspeakable  benefit 
to  the  poor  cold,  pulseless  sick),  seemed  an  ideal  place  for 
the  purpose.  It  was  not  very  large,  it  is  true,  but  as  most 
of  our  patients  were  either  quickly  cured  or  quickly  suc- 
cumbed, we  were  able  to  receive  a  goodly  number. 
Mr.  Underwood  and  Dr.  Wells  worked  indefatigably, 
stocking  it  with  everything  obtainable  which  could  be  of 
use. 

My  husband  arranged  for  a  corps  of  voluntary  native 
nurses.  As  the  only  missionaries  available  were  at  work 


VOLUNTEER    NATIVE    NURSES  141 

elsewhere,  and  we  had  seen  too  much  of  hired  native  offi- 
cial nurses,  he  decided  to  ask  some  of  his  Christian  helpers 
to  do  this  service  for  the  love  of  Christ.  Cholera  is  a 
loathsome  disease,  only  love  makes  it  easy  to  nurse  faith- 
fully and  tenderly  these  poor  afflicted  creatures,  without 
overwhelming  disgust. 

Some  of  the  men  thus  approached  belonged  to  the 
scholar  and  gentlemen  class,  who  had  never  done  manual 
work  of  any  kind,  and  at  first  they  hesitated.  However, 
they  at  last  decided  to  undertake  the  task,  and  with  will- 
ing hands  and  a  little  training,  they  turned  out  to  be  very 
satisfactory  nurses,  faithful  and  devoted,  never  shirking 
the  most  difficult  and  repelling  work.  Every  evening  a 
service  of  prayer  and  song  was  held  in  the  central  court 
of  the  Shelter,  where  all  who  were  conscious  could  hear, 
and  we  believe  that  the  blessing  on  that  work  came  in  an- 
swer to  these  united  prayers,  and  the  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  absolute  dependence  in  God.  Here,  too,  the 
workers  gained  new  enthusiasm  and  the  strength  born  of 
faith  and  hope. 

Dr.  Wells'  brilliant  management  deserves  the  highest 
praise.  The  necessity  of  caring  for  my  little  one,  lying 
sick  five  miles  away,  allowed  me  only  alternate  nights  of 
service  at  the  hospital,  so  the  labor  for  the  other  two  mem- 
bers of  our  trio  was  severe,  but  while  the  need  lasted 
strength  was  given. 

Unspeakably  pathetic  were  many  of  the  scenes  we  were 
forced  to  witness.  One  poor  woman,  only  that  day 
widowed,  with  three  little  ones  to  care  for,  was  brought  in 
cold  and  almost  pulseless.  We  spent  the  night  trying  to 
save  this  poor  mother.  Early  in  the  morning  her  eldest, 
a  dear  little  fellow  of  eleven,  came  to  watch  with  and  take 
care  of  her.  To  see  the  anxious  little  face  (a  child's  face 
in  the  shadow  of  a  great  sorrow  is  the  saddest  thing  on 


142      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

earth)  as  he  chafed  her  hands  and  affirmed,  half  interrog- 
atively, how  much  warmer  they  were  now  than  before, 
and  as  he  looked  eagerly  to  us,  every  time  we  entered  say- 
ing, "Will  she  live,  will  she  live?"  was  enough  to  make 
one  ready  to  die  for  that  life.  We  felt  that  woman  must 
live.  And  yet  — .  After  a  long  contest  the  pulse  revived, 
the  extremities  grew  warm,  nearly  all  untoward  symptoms 
disappeared,  we  all  dared  to  hope.  "She  will  live  now," 
joyfully  said  the  child.  "Oh,  if  I  could  live,  it  would  be 
good !"  said  the  now  conscious  mother.  But  alas !  next 
day  the  three  little  ones  were  motherless  and  fatherless, 
and  another  sad  funeral,  with  one  drooping  little  mourner, 
joined  the  awful  procession,  which  nightly  filed  through 
the  city  gates,  and  covered  the  surrounding  hills  with  new- 
made  graves.  One  poor  old  father  watched  and  tended 
his  boy  of  fourteen  with  agonized  devotion.  The  only  one 
left  to  his  old  age  of  what  was  a  few  days  before  a  large 
family.  We  all  worked  over  the  lad  with  strong  hopes,  so 
young,  and  many  of  the  old  had  recovered,  so  much 
needed,  surely  he  would  be  spared,  but  at  length  the  cold 
young  form  grew  a  little  colder,  the  tired  little  pulse  ceased 
to  flutter,  and  a  broken  old  man  followed  his  last  hope  to 
the  grave. 

And  yet  we  had  great  cause  for  devout  thankfulness 
that  so  many  of  our  patients  were  spared.  Sixty-five  per 
cent  of  recoveries  is  almost  unheard  of,  and  yet  this  was 
our  record  at  the  Shelter. 

Under  God  we  ascribed  this  large  percentage  of  cures, 
mainly  to  the  three  following  causes :  The  use  of  salol  as 
early  and  in  as  large  doses  as  possible.  Keeping  the  pa- 
tients on  the  very  hot  floor  till  warmth  returned  and  cir- 
culation improved.  And  the  conscientious  and  untiring 
nursing  by  the  native  Christians. 

Of  course  this  is  not  the  place,  nor  have  I  the  time,  to 


THE  TREATMENT  OF  CHOLERA      143 

go  into  a  minute  description  of  the  various  remedies  and 
forms  of  treatment  used.  We  believed  we  were  reaching 
the  case  with  salol,  but  various  other  remedies  also  were 
used  to  control  the  symptoms.  In  fact,  everything  we 
knew  was  done,  and  all  must  be  done  quickly  or  not  at  all. 
Many  of  the  cases  brought  to  us  were  in  a  state  of  col- 
lapse when  they  arrived.  Often  the  pulse  was  not  per- 
ceptible, and  yet  repeatedly,  where  we  felt  that  treatment 
was  hopeless,  the  hot  floor  and  vigorous  charing,  with 
hypodermic  administration  of  stimulants,  brought  about 
sufficient  reanimation  to  make  it  possible  to  take  the  salol, 
and  this  seemed  to  act  miraculously.  It  was  in  obedience 
to  Dr.  Wells'  suggestion  that  we  tried  this  drug  which 
proved  such  a  blessing.  In  one  case,  that  of  a  young  man 
of  high  rank,  his  family  despaired  of  his  life  from  the  first, 
and  finally  went  home  to  prepare  his  grave  clothes,  but 
on  returning  with  them  in  the  morning,  found  him,  to 
their  joy  and  amazement,  quite  out  of  danger.  Another 
striking  case  was  that  of  an  old  lady  nearly  seventy  years 
of  age.  Her  son  and  daughter,  as  a  last  resort,  but  quite 
hopelessly,  brought  her  to  us.  She  was  far  gone,  uncon- 
scious, and  almost  pulseless.  We  rubbed  her  cold  ex- 
tremities with  alcohol,  keeping  her  quite  warm  on  a  fine 
hot  floor  (she  lay  practically  on  a  stove  all  night),  and  to 
the  astonishment  of  all,  after  a  few  hours,  steady  improve- 
ment began  and  she  was  soon  restored  to  her  delighted 
friends. 

I  insert  here  our  medical  record,  for  the  benefit  of  medi- 
cal readers,  giving  all  the  uninterested  the  privilege  of 
skipping.  We  received  altogether  173  patients,  of  whom 
61  died;  of  those  received,  18  arrived  dying  or  dead;  95 
were  taken  in  rigid,  of  whom  only  42  died ;  35  were  verg- 
ing on  collapse,  of  whom  2  died  ;  4  were  in  partial  collapse, 
of  whom  none  died ;  20  were  in  the  first  stage,  of  whom 


144      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

none  died.  Of  those  who  died,  25  never  reacted,  2  had 
puerperal  complications,  2  were  already  affected  with 
tuberculosis,  3  developed  cerebral  meningitis,  i  complica- 
tion of  chronic  cystitis,  i  chronic  nephritis,  and  2  received 
no  salol. 

All  these  recoveries  made  no  little  stir  in  the  city, 
especially  as  elsewhere  nearly  two-thirds  of  those  affected 
died.  Proclamations  were  posted  on  the  walls,  telling  peo- 
ple there  was  no  need  for  them  to  die  when  they  might 
go  to  the  Christian  hospital  and  live.  People  who  watched 
missionaries  working  over  the  sick  night  after  night  said 
to  each  other,  "How  these  foreigners  love  us,  would  we 
do  as  much  for  one  of  our  own  kin  as  they  do  for 
strangers  ?"  Some  men  who  saw  Mr.  Underwood  hurry- 
ing along  the  road  in  the  gray  twilight  of  a  summer  morn- 
ing remarked,  "There  goes  the  Jesus  man,  he  works  all 
night  and  all  day  with  the  sick  without  resting."  "Why 
does  he  do  it?"  said  another.  "Because  he  loves  us,"  was 
the  reply.  What  sweeter  reward  could  be  had  than  that 
the  people  should  see  the  Lord  in  our  service.  Surely  the 
plague  was  not  all  evil  when  it  served  to  bring  the  Lord 
more  clearly  to  the  view  of  the  souls  he  died  to  save. 

A  tolerably  fair  count  of  the  deaths  inside  the  walls  each 
day  was  possible,  since  all  the  dead  are  carried  through 
two  or  three  gates.  The  numbers  rose  gradually  to  some- 
thing over  three  hundred  a  day  and  then  gradually  de- 
clined, the  plague  lasting  not  quite  six  weeks.  The  extra- 
mural population  is  probably  as  large  as  the  intra-mural, 
including  the  people  within  the  two  miles  radius  outside 
the  walls.  All  taken  together  there  are  between  three 
and  four  hundred  thousand  people. 

When  the  plague  was  nearly  over  the  following  very 
grateful  letter  of  thanks  from  the  Korean  office  of  Foreign 
Affairs  was  sent  through  the  American  minister. 


OFFICIAL   EXPRESSION   OF   THANKS  145 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS. 
504th  Year,  7th  Moon,  3d  Day. 

August  22d,  1895. 
Kim,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 

to  Mr.  Sill,  United  States  Minister. 
SIR:    I  have  the  honor  to  say  that  my  government  is  deeply 

grateful  to —  and  his  friends  who  have 

spent  a  great  deal  of  money  for  medicines  and  labored  in  the 
management  of  cholera,  resulting  in  the  cure  of  many  sick  peo- 
ple. I  trust  your  excellency  will  kindly  convey  an  expression 
of  thanks  to  them  on  behalf  of  my  government.  I  am,  etc.,  etc. 
(Signed)  KIM  YUN  SIR. 

Gifts  were  sent  to  the  missionaries,  who  had  assisted 
at  the  hospitals,  of  rolls  of  silk,  fans,  little  silver  inkstands, 
having  the  name  of  the  Home  Office  and  the  recipient  en- 
graved upon  them,  and  most  interesting  of  all,  a  kind  of 
mosaic  mats  made  of  a  peculiar  sort  of  reeds  grown  for  the 
purpose  at  the  island  of  Kang  Wha.  These  mats  have 
bits  of  the  reeds  of  different  colors  skilfully  inlaid  to  form 
the  pattern,  and  that  on  those  which  were  given  to  us  was 
at  one  end  the  national  emblem,  at  the  other  the  red  cross 
and  the  name  of  the  Home  Office. 

This  was  of  course  extremely  gratifying.  No,  more,  it 
was  a  thing  for  which  to  be  profoundly  grateful  that  gov- 
ernment and  people  recognized  that  we,  the  representa- 
tives of  our  Lord  (however  inefficient  and  unworthy), 
were  their  friends,  and,  as  far  as  in  us  lay,  their  helpers. 

The  best,  however,  was  to  come.  The  names  of  the 
Koreans  who  had  nursed  and  served  at  the  Shelter  and  in- 
spection offices  were  asked  for,  and  the  intention  to  pay 
them  stated.  We  told  them  that  the  men  had  done  this 
with  no  expectation  of  pay,  but  to  this  they  would  not 
listen  and  insisted  on  rewarding  them  handsomely.  On 
the  receipt  of  this  unexpected,  and,  for  them,  large  sum, 
almost  all  the  Christians  (quite  voluntarily,  and  to  our 
surprise)  put  it  all  into  the  fund  for  the  new  church,  con- 


I46      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

sidering  it  a  gift  of  God,  specially  sent  in  answer  to 
prayer,  to  help  them  in  the  enterprise  undertaken  in  faith. 

They  were,  therefore,  now  able  to  go  on  and  finish  the 
church,  which  accommodates,  with  crowding,  two  hun- 
dred people.  It  is  an  unpretentious  building,  entirely 
native,  substantial  as  possible  with  mud  walls,  tiled  roof 
and  paper  windows,  yet  built  and  finished  much  in  the 
style  of  the  best  Korean  houses,  none  of  which  knew,  at 
that  time,  what  it  was  to  boast  of  a  pane  of  glass,  or  brick 
or  stone  walls.  Into  it  the  little  congregation  flocked, 
and  with  glad  hearts  dedicated  to  God  the  work  of  their 
hands,  which  through  sacrifice,  love,  faith  and  prayer 
was  more  costly  and  precious  in  his  sight  than  gold  or 
ivory,  which  had  not  been  so  sanctified. 

Not  long  after  the  cholera  epidemic,  and  the  events 
connected  with  it,  occurred  the  tragedy  at  the  palace — the 
murder  of  the  brilliant  and  progressive  queen,  the  friend 
of  progress,  civilization  and  reform. 

Her  majesty  was  a  brilliant  diplomatist,  and  usually 
worsted  her  opponents.  The  Japanese,  after  the  war,  had 
indeed  proclaimed  the  independence  of  Korea,  yet  seemed 
in  practice  to  desire  to  establish  a  sort  of  protectorate  and 
to  direct  her  policy  at  home  and  abroad.  Many  public 
offices  were  filled  with  citizens  of  Japan,  or  Japanese  sym- 
pathizers as  far  as  possible,  and  a  large  body  of  the 
Korean  troops  were  drilled  by  and  under  the  command 
of  Japanese  officers. 

Realizing  that  in  the  patriotic  and  brilliant  queen  they 
had  to  meet  one  who  would  not  readily  submit  to  their 
plans  for  the  Japanizing  of  Korea,  they  objected  to  her 
participation  at  all  in  the  affairs  of  government,  and 
were  promised,  under  compulsion  we  were  told,  that  these 
orders  should  be  obeyed.  Naturally  this  was  not  done, 
and  the  queen  continued  to  be  a  source  of  confusion  and 


THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN       147 

rock  of  offense  to  them  and  their  plans.  Finally  a 
decided  change  was  made  in  the  personnel  of  the  Japanese 
embassy.  Count  Inoye,  who,  in  the  name  of  his  govern- 
ment, had  hitherto  promised  to  the  queen  the  support  and 
protection  of  Japan  was  recalled.  He  was  replaced  by 
Count  Miura,  who  was  a  man  of  very  different  tendencies. 
Count  Miura  was  a  very  strong  Buddhist,  and  passion- 
ately devoted  to  the  supposed  interests  of  Japan  as  against 
those  of  any  other  nation. 

One  morning,  the  8th  of  October,  1895,  we  heard  firing 
at  the  palace.  This  was  in  time  of  peace,  and  such  sounds 
we  knew  must  be  portents  of  evil.  All  was  confusion, 
nothing  definite  could  be  learned,  except  that  certain 
Japanese  troops  had  arrived  at  about  three  in  the  morn- 
ing, escorting  the  Tai  Won  Kun  (the  king's  father  and 
the  queen's  bitter  enemy),  and  had  driven  out  the  native 
royal  guard  under  General  Dye  (an  American)  and  were 
now  guarding  the  palace  gates.  The  air  was  full  of 
ominous  suspicions  and  whispers,  but  nothing  more  defi- 
nite could  we  learn  till  afternoon,  when  meeting  a  Korean 
noble,  he  told  us  with  face  all  aghast,  that  it  was  currently 
reported  that  the  queen  had  been  murdered. 

In  a  few  hours  this  news  was  confirmed  with  par- 
ticulars. The  Tai  Won  Kun  was  at  that  time  under 
guard,  in  exile  from  the  court,  at  his  country  house,  for 
conspiracy  against  the  king  in  favor  of  his  grandson,  and 
he  of  course  readily  consented  to  become  the  leader  of  the 
plotters  against  the  queen,  to.  enter  the  palace  at  the  head 
of  their  troops  and  take  possession  of  the  persons  of  their 
majesties  (and  the  government  incidently),  necessarily, 
of  course,  doing  away  with  the  queen.  The  troops  there- 
fore marched  with  the  old  man  in  his  chair  to  the  palace 
gates,  where  all  had  been  made  ready.  Ammunition  had 
been  secretly  removed,  native  troops  trained  by  Americans 


148      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

had  been  mostly  exchanged  for  those  trained  by  Japanese, 
and  after  a  few  shots,  and  scarcely  a  pretence  of  resist- 
ance, the  attacking  party  entered.  It  was  some  distance 
to  the  royal  apartments,  and  the  rumor  of  disturbance 
reached  there  some  time  before  the  attacking  party.  Her 
majesty  was  alarmed.  She  was  a  brave  woman,  but  she 
knew  she  had  bitter,  powerful  and  treacherous  foes, 
and  that,  like  Damocles,  a  sword  suspended  by  only  too 
slight  a  thread  hung  over  her  life. 

The  king's  second  son,  Prince  Oui-wha,  begged  her  to 
escape  with  him  by  a  little  gate  which  yet  remained  un- 
guarded, through  which  they  might  pass  disguised  to 
friends  in  the  city.  The  dowager  queen,  however,  was 
too  old  to  go,  and  her  majesty  nobly  refused  to  leave  her 
alone  to  the  terror  which  occupation  of  the  palace  by 
foreigners  would  insure,  trusting  no  doubt  to  the  positive 
assurances  of  protection  that  had  been  made  to  her 
through  Count  Inoye,  and  the  more  so,  as  one  of  the 
courtiers  in  waiting,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Chung  Pung 
Ha,  had  assured  her  that  whatever  happened  she  might 
rest  confident  that  the  persons  of  their  majesties  would  be 
perfectly  safe.  This  man  was  a  creature  of  low  origin, 
whom  the  queen  had  raised  and  bestowed  many  favors 
upon,  and  in  whom  she  placed  great  reliance.  He  advised 
her  not  to  hide,  and  kept  himself  informed  of  all  her 
movements.  With  no  code  of  honor  wider  or  higher  than 
his  pocket,  he  of  course  became  a  ready  tool  of  the 
assassins,  and  there  is  much  evidence  to  show  he  was  a 
party  to  the  conspiracy. 

The  queen  therefore  remained  in  a  good  deal  of  un- 
easiness and  anxiety,  but  only  when  the  Tai  Won  Kun 
and  the  hired  assassins  rushed  in,  calling  for  the  queen, 
did  she  attempt,  alas !  too  late,  to  hide. 

There  was  some  confusion,  in  the  numerous  verbal  re- 


TESTIMONY  CONCERNING  THE  MURDER       149 

ports  which  reached  us,  but  two  foreigners,  a  Russian, 
Mr.  Sabbatin,  and  an  American,  General  Dye,  who  were 
eye-witnesses  of  nearly  all  that  occurred,  both  agreed  in 
the  statement,  that  Japanese  troops  under  Japanese  offi- 
cers surrounded  the  courtyard  and  buildings  where  the 
royal  party  were,  and  that  the  Japanese  officers  were  in 
the  courtyard,  and  saw  the  outrages  which  were  com- 
mitted, and  knew  all  that  was  done  by  the  Japanese  soshi 
or  professional  cutthroats.  About  thirty  of  these  assassins 
rushed  into  the  royal  apartments  crying,  "The  queen,  the 
queen,  where  is  the  queen  ?" 

Then  began  a  mad  and  brutal  hunt  for  their  prey,  more 
like  wild  beasts  than  men,  seizing  the  palace  women,* 
dragging  them  about  by  their  hair  and  beating  them,  try- 
ing to  force  them  to  tell  where  the  queen  was.  Mr.  Sab- 
batin was  himself  questioned  and  threatened  with  death. 
The  soshi  and  officers  who  wore  the  Japanese  uniform 
passed  through  the  room  where  his  majesty  stood  trying 
to  divert  attention  from  the  queen.  "One  of  the  Japanese 
caught  him  by  the  shoulder  and  pulled  him  about,  and  Yi 
Kiung  Chick,  the  minister  of  the  royal  household,  was 
killed  by  the  Japanese  in  his  majesty's  presence.  His  royal 
highness,  the  crown  prince,  was  seized,  his  hat  torn  off 
and  broken,  and  he  was  pulled  about  by  the  hair,  the  soshi 
threatening  him  with  their  swords  while  demanding 
where  the  queen  was."f  At  length  they  hunted  the  poor 
queen  down,  and  killed  her  with  their  swords.  They  then 
covered  her  body,  and  bringing  in  various  palace  women, 
suddenly  displayed  the  corpse,  when  the  women  shrieked 
with  horror,  "The  queen,  the  queen !"  This  was  enough ; 
by  this  ruse  the  assassins  made  sure  they  had  felled  the 
right  victim. 

*  "Korean  Repository,"  1894. 

t  From  official  report  of  "Korean  Repository." 


ISO      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Soon  after,  the  remains  were  taken  to  a  grove  of  trees 
not  far  off,  kerosene  oil  poured  over  them,  and  they  were 
burned,  only  a  few  bones  remaining. 

Later  developments  all  went  to  prove  that  the  mur- 
derers were  actually  guilty  of  the  inconceivable  folly  of 
imagining  that  by  this  means  it  would  be  possible  to  con- 
ceal the  crime  and  their  share  in  it. 

Stories  of  all  sorts  were  circulated,  as  that  her  majesty 
had  escaped  and  was  lying  concealed,  or  that  she  had 
simply  been  removed  for  a  time  by  the  Japanese,  who 
could  bring  her  back  at  any  moment.  In  the  official  account 
of  the  murder,  and  of  the  trial  of  Count  Miura  and  the 
soshi,  held  in  Hiroshima,  Japan,  for  which  I  am  indebted 
to  "The  Korean  Repository"  for  1895,  the  following 
words  occur:  "The  accused  Miura  Gow  assumed  his 
official  duties  ...  on  September  i,  1895.  According  to 
his  observation,  things  in  Korea  were  tending  in  the 
wrong  direction,  the  court  was  daily  growing  more  and 
more  arbitrary,  and  attempting  wanton  interference  with 
the  conduct  of  State  affairs.  Disorder  and  confusion  were 
in  this  way  introduced  into  the  system  of  administration 
that  had  just  been  reorganized  under  the  guidance  and 
advice  of  the  Imperial  government.  The  court  went  so  far 
in  turning  its  back  upon  Japan  that  a  project  was  mooted 
for  disbanding  the  Kurentai  troops  (Koreans  under  Jap- 
anese officers)  and  punishing  their  officers.  Moreover,  a 
report  came  to  the  said  Miura  that  the  court  had  under 
contemplation  a  scheme  for  usurping  all  political  power 
by  degrading  some  and  killing  others  of  the  cabinet  min- 
isters suspected  of  devotion  to  the  cause  of  progress  and 
independence.  Under  these  circumstances  he  was  greatly 
perturbed,  inasmuch  as  he  thought  that  the  attitude 
assumed  by  the  court  not  only  showed  remarkable  in- 
gratitude towards  this  country,  which  had  spent  labor  and 


THE  OFFICIAL  REPORT  151 

money  for  the  sake  of  Korea,  but  was  also  calculated  to 
thwart  the  work  of  internal  reform  and  'jeopardize  the  in- 
dependence of  the  kingdom.'  " 

The  report  then  proceeds  to  state  that  the  accused  felt  it 
necessary  to  apply  a  remedy  which  would  on  the  one  hand 
"secure  the  independence  of  the  Korean  kingdom,  and  on 
the  other  maintain  the  prestige  of  this  empire  in  that  coun- 
try!" The  report  further  proceeds  to  state,  that  confer- 
ences were  held  with  the  Tai  Won  Kun  and  with  Japanese 
officials,  at  one  of  which,  October  3rd,  "The  decision  ar- 
rived at  on  that  occasion  was  that  assistance  should  be 
rendered  to  the  Tai  Won  Kun's  entry  into  the  palace  by 
making  use  of  the  Kurentai,  who,  being  hated  by  the 
court,  felt  themselves  in  danger,  and  of  the  young  men 
who  deeply  lamented  the  course  of  events,  and  also  by 
causing  the  Japanese  troops  stationed  in  Seoul  to  offer 
their  support  to  the  enterprise.  It  was  further  resolved 
that  this  opportunity  should  be  availed  of  for  taking  the 
life  of  the  queen,  who  exercised  overwhelming  influence 
in  the  court." 

After  further  particulars  in  the  completion  of  the  plan 
the  Japanese  document  continues :  "Miura  told  them 
(the  men  who  were  to  escort  the  Tai  Won  Kun)  that  on 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  depended  the  eradication  of 
the  evils  that  had  done  so  much  mischief  to  the  kingdom 
for  the  past  twenty  years,  and  instigated  them  to  despatch 
the  queen  when  they  entered  the  palace."  The  report  then 
goes  on  at  some  length,  describing  the  various  steps  taken 
in  carrying  out  the  conspiracy,  and  continues :  "Then 
slowly  proceeding  toward  Seoul  the  party  met  the  Kuren- 
tai troops  outside  the  west  gate  of  the  capital,  where  they 
waited  some  time  for  the  Japanese  troops.  .  .  .  About 
dawn  the  whole  party  entered  the  palace  through  the 
Kwang-hwa  gate,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  the  inner 


152      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

chambers.  Notwithstanding  these  facts  there  is  no  suffi- 
cient evidence  to  prove  that  any  of  the  accused  actually 
committed  the  crime  originally  meditated  by  them.  .  .  . 
For  these  reasons,  the  accused,  each  and  all,  are  hereby 
discharged.  .  .  .  The  documents  and  other  articles  seized 
in  connection  with  this  case  are  restored  to  their  respective 
owners. 

Given  at  Hiroshima  local  court  by 

YOSHIDA   YOSHIDA, 

Judge  of  Preliminary  inquiry, 
TAMURA  YOSHIHARU, 

Clerk  of  the  court. 

Dated  2Oth  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  twenty-ninth 
year  of  Yeiji. 

This  copy  has  been  taken  from  the  original  text. 


Clerk  of  the  local  court  of  Hiroshima." 

This  document  needs  no  comment.  Count  Miura  was 
recently  restored  to  all  his  titles  and  dignities  which  had 
been  temporarily  removed. 


CHAPTER   X 

The  Palace  after  the  Murder — Panic — Attitude  of  Foreign  Lega- 
tions— The  King's  Life  in  Hourly  Danger — Noble  Refugees 
— Americans  on  Guard — Mistakes  of  the  New  Government — 
Objectionable  Sumptuary  Laws — A  Plan  to  Rescue  the 
King — One  Night  at  the  Palace — Forcing  an  Entrance — Our 
Little  Drama — Escape  of  General  Yun. 

IN  the  meantime  the  king  and  crown  prince  were  held 
prisoners  in  their  own  palace  by  a  cabinet  composed  of 
Koreans  who  were  favorable  to  the  Japanese  government. 
Immediately  after  the  death  of  the  queen,  before  the  sol- 
diers and  assassins  had  dispersed,  the  Japanese  minister 
had  come  to  the  palace  and  requested  an  audience.  Ac- 
cording to  the  official  report,  Count  Miura,  with  his  sec- 
retary, Mr.  Sugimma,*  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  and  a  Japanese, 
who  had  led  the  soshi,  were  all  present  at  this  audience, 
and  presented  three  papers  to  the  king  for  signature,  one 
being  that  the  cabinet  should  henceforth  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  country,  one  that  Prince  Yi  Chai  Miun 
should  be  minister  of  the  royal  household,  and  the  other 
appointing  a  vice-minister  of  the  household.  The  king 
shaken  by  the  events  of  the  night,  and  helpless  in  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  signed  all  three.  Then  the  Japanese 
troops  were  withdrawn,  and  the  Kurentai  alone  left  on 
guard.  Soon  after  the  ministers  of  war  and  police  depart- 
ments were  changed  for  pro- Japanese,  "so  that  all  the 


*  See  "Korean  Repository"  official  account  of  the  murder  of 
the  queen. 


154      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

armed  forces  of  the  government,  and  even  the  personal  at- 
tendants of  his  majesty"  were  under  the  control  of  the 
opponents  of  the  royal  person  and  family. 

Mr.  Waeber,  the  Russian  minister,  and  Dr.  Allen, 
Charge  d'Affaires  of  the  United  States,  having  heard  the 
firing,  arrived  at  the  palace,  while  the  Japanese  minister 
was  still  there,  and  were  made  acquainted  by  the  king  to 
some  extent  concerning  the  occurrences  which  had  just 
taken  place.  The  poor  king  was  in  a  state  of  shock 
amounting  to  almost  complete  prostration,  which  was 
pitiable  to  behold,  after  the  awful  experiences  of  the  night 
and  the  brutal  murder  of  his  idolized  queen. 

The  friends  and  connections  of  the  royal  family,  offi- 
cials, soldiers,  servants  and  hangers  on  about  the  palace, 
of  whom  there  were  several  thousands,  were  all  in  the 
wildest  panic.  Every  one  was  rushing  in  mad  haste  to 
escape  from  the  confines  of  the  palace  grounds,  and  uni- 
forms or  anything  that  could  distinguish  men  as  belong- 
ing to  the  court  were  recklessly  torn  off  and  thrown  away. 
The  American,  Russian  and  English  legations  were 
thronged  with  people,  anxious  for  shelter  from  the  hands 
of  those  who  composed  the  band  of  Korean  traitors.  The 
foreign  representatives  felt  and  showed  much  indignation 
over  the  cruel  assassination  of  her  majesty  and  sympathy 
for  the  king. 

For  some  time  they  visited  the  palace  every  day.  As 
they  refused  to  recognize  the  rebel  government,  they 
probably  felt  obliged  to  see  his  majesty  personally,  in 
order  to  know  his  wishes  and  policy,  and  it  is  also  most 
likely  that,  feeling  much  uncertainty  as  to  the  intentions 
of  the  persons  in  whose  hands  the  king  was,  they  wished 
to  keep  themselves  informed,  and  perhaps  to  keep  in  check 
any  plans  of  violence  toward  the  remaining  members  of 
the  royal  family.  Mr.  Underwood  was  requested  to  ac- 


THE    KING'S    PERIL  155 

company  the  United  States  minister  as  interpreter,  while 
the  French  bishop  acted  in  the  same  capacity  for  the 
representative  of  France,  since  none  of  the  native  inter- 
preters could  be  trusted  under  such  circumstances. 

And  right  here  I  would  stop  to  ask,  why  is  it  that  in 
matters  of  such  extreme  importance  as  the  affairs  of  state 
between  our  own  government  and  Eastern  nations,  there 
have  been  up  to  this  time  no  trained  American  interpre- 
ters, and  our  highest  officials  are  obliged  to  depend  upon 
the  more  than  doubtful  native  interpreters,  who  even  when 
not  wilfully  for  their  own  purposes,  or  through  their 
own  cowardice,  misrepresenting  communications  of  the 
greatest  importance,  may  through  incapability  entirely 
misconceive  the  idea  to  be  expressed,  or  through  careless- 
ness omit  the  most  significant  part  of  the  whole  sentence  ? 

The  king  was  to  be  seen  only  under  the  strictest  sur- 
veillance of  the  cabinet,  and  apparently  was  under  ex- 
treme coercion,  so  that  he  did  not  consider  it  expedient  to 
say  anything  contrary  to  their  orders  and  policy.  On  rare 
occasions,  when  their  attention  was  called  for  a  few  mo- 
ments by  some  of  the  visiting  party,  his  majesty  con- 
trived to  convey  to  Mr.  Underwood  a  whispered  message, 
a  sign,  a  tiny  note  slipped  in  his  palm,  by  which  he  briefly 
communicated  his  desires,  or  plans,  or  his  real  replies  to 
questions  which  had  already  been  answered  publicly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  views  of  his  enemies.  As  the  king  stood 
in  hourly  fear  of  poison,  and  not  without  reason,  since  his 
unscrupulous  and  unnatural  father,  the  Tai  Won  Kun, 
was  most  desirous  to  replace  him  by  his  grandson, 
through  another  son,  and  as  so  many  of  the  conspirators 
surrounding  the  king  had  now  so  much  at  stake,  were 
in  so  dangerous  a  position,  and  were  men  who  had  already 
proved  they  would  stop  at  nothing  where  their  own  inter- 
est was  concerned,  he  would  take  no  food  for  some  time 


156      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

but  condensed  milk  brought  in  sealed  cans  and  opened  in 
his  presence,  or  eggs  cooked  in  the  shells.  Hearing  of 
this,  and  glad  to  take  advantage  of  an  opportunity  how- 
ever small  to  show  our  sympathy,  the  ladies  from  one  of 
the  European  legations  and  myself  alternated  in  sending 
specially  prepared  dishes,  such  articles  as  contained  the 
greatest  amount  of  nourishment,  as  well  as  of  agreeable 
taste. 

They  were  sent  in  a  tin  box,  provided  with  a  Yale  lock. 
Mr.  Underwood,  who  was  now  going  as  interpreter  and 
messenger  between  the  legations  and  palace,  sometimes 
twice  a  day,  carried  the  key,  and  placed  it  in  the  king's 
own  hand,  while  the  box  was  carried  in  at  any  convenient 
time  by  the  ordinary  officials.  It  was  only  a  small  service, 
but  it  was  to  some  extent  a  relief  to  be  allowed  to  do  any- 
thing for  those  who  had  a  claim  upon  our  loyalty,  and  who 
had  been  so  shockingly  outraged. 

One  day  as  Mr.  Underwood  was  going  in  to  his  majesty 
he  met  the  old  Tai  Won  Kun,  who  said,  "Why  do  you  take 
all  that  good  food  in  to  him?  He  doesn't  need  it.  I  am 
old,  my  teeth  are  gone,  I  need  it  far  more  than  he."  The 
crafty  and  cruel  old  human  tiger's  teeth  and  claws  were 
still  only  too  serviceable,  alas !  For  a  long  time  after  the 
death  of  the  queen,  nearly  seven  weeks,  Americans,  one  or 
two  at  a  time,  were  asked  to  be  at  the  palace  every  night, 
as  it  was  thought  that  with  foreigners  there  as  witnesses, 
the  conspirators,  whoever  they  might  be,  would  hesitate 
to  commit  any  further  outrages.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
had  they  thought  it  necessary  to  commit  regicide,  the  lives 
of  the  witnesses  would  have  been  sacrificed  as  well,  but 
Easterners  stand  in  considerable  fear  of  the  wrath  of  the 
Western  nations,  when  their  citizens  are  killed,  and  no 
doubt  the  chances  of  violence  to  his  majesty  and  the 
crown  prince  were  somewhat  diminished  by  the  presence 


THE   LEGATIONS   FULL   OF   REFUGEES         157 

of  the  missionaries,  who  night  after  night,  two  and  two, 
left  the  congenial  task  of  preaching  the  gospel  of  peace  to 
insure  the  continuance  of  it  (or  that  small  fraction  which 
at  that  time  was  left  to  poor  Korea). 

We  wives  at  home,  keeping  lonely  vigil,  while  our  hus- 
bands sentineled  the  palace,  listened  with  sharpened  ears 
for  sounds  of  ill-omen  from  that  direction.  But  both  they 
and  we  were  glad  of  this  service,  rejoicing  to  prove  that 
we  were  the  friends  of  the  people  and  the  rightful  ruler, 
from  highest  to  lowest,  and  we  were  specially  glad  that 
those  who  had  been  called  disloyal,  because  they  refused 
to  obey  the  decree  which  forbade  preaching  the  gospel, 
were  now  able  to  show  themselves  the  most  active  and  un- 
wearied in  serving  the  king. 

The  day  after  the  assassination,  the  king's  second  son, 
Prince  Oui-wha,  sent  to  ask  refuge  in  our  house,  where, 
this  being  American  property,  he  would  be  safe  from  ar- 
rest. The  legations  were  all  full  of  refugees  of  high  rank, 
and  several  were  staying  in  our  Korean  sarang  or  guest 
room.  We  were,  of  course,  delighted  to  receive  the  young 
prince,  and  also  to  have  this  further  opportunity  to  prove 
our  regard  for  him.  In  consequence  of  the  presence  of 
these  refugees  we  were  honored  by  being  kept  under  con- 
tinual espionage  by  the  pseudo-government,  our  com- 
pound constantly  watched  by  spies  at  all  exits,  by  day  and 
night.  It  seemed  monstrous  to  me,  who  had  never  known 
any  of  the  class  whose  movements  are  watched  by  detec- 
tives, nor  ever  dreamed  of  coming  in  any  way  into  colli- 
sion with  any  government  (much  less  of  being  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  do  so),  but  perhaps  it  was  the  spirit 
of  revolutionary  forefathers  which  made  me  believe,  that 
if  governments  were  wrong,  right-minded  people  must 
oppose  them,  and  that  if  sheltering  the  friends  of  the  just 
and  lawful  ruler  from  a  company  of  conspirators  and 


158      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

traitors  was  standing  in  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  the 
powers  that  be,  it  was  both  right  and  our  unavoidable 
duty  to  do  what  we  could  to  shield  them  from  violence 
and  death. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  new  government  was  appointing 
new  officials,  trying,  torturing  and  executing  innocent 
people  as  the  accused  murderers  of  the  queen,  in  order  to 
shield  themselves — useless  crimes  which  deceived  no  one 
— making  a  number  of  new  offices  and  placing  Japanese 
in  them  on  large  salaries,  and  making  new  and  farcical,  as 
well  as  injurious  and  objectionable,  laws.  Women  were 
not  to  be  allowed  to  go  on  the  street  with  covered  faces, 
pipes  must  be  of  a  certain  length,  sleeves  must  be 
shortened  and  narrowed,  coats  must  be  of  a  particular 
color,  and  hat  brims  a  certain  width.  This  was  called 
"Kaiwha"  or  reform.  Large  numbers  of  Japanese  flocked 
to  this  country  and  made  their  way  to  the  capital  or  into 
the  interior,  in  the  industrious  pursuit  of  wealth,  which 
we  were  informed  was  not  always  limited  to  legitimate 
measures,  or  the  possession  of  sinecures. 

Missionaries  returning  from  the  interior  reported  that 
they  had  heard  lamentable  tales  on  all  hands,  of  farmers 
strung  up  by  the  thumbs,  for  the  extortion  of  money  or 
deeds  of  lands  and  of  women  dealt  with  brutally.  The 
poor  country  people  were  like  sheep  in  the  midst  of 
wolves,  their  shepherd  gone,  their  fold  broken  down. 

One  of  the  measures  taken  by  the  pro- Japanese  govern- 
ment, which  excited  great  feeling  and  probably  did  more 
than  anything  else  to  arouse  protest,  because  so  cruelly 
calculated  to  wound  the  desolate  and  stricken  king, 
was  a  decree  sent  through  the  whole  land  in  the  king's 
name  declaring  the  queen  a  wicked  woman  and  degrading 
her  to  the  lowest  rank.  This  they  asked  the  king  to  sign 
and  seal,  but  shaken  as  he  was,  he  absolutely  refused 


PLANS   FOR   THE   KING'S   RESCUE  159 

so  to  insult  his  dead  consort,  and  the  cabinet  were  obliged 
to  forge  his  signature,  and  seal  the  paper  themselves. 
This  act  bore  the  stamp  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  whose 
insatiable  hate  was  not  satisfied  with  the  murder  of  the 
queen,  but  followed  her  with  insults  to  the  grave. 

In  the  midst  of  these  days  of  confusion  and  excitement, 
the  loyalist  party,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  made  an  at- 
tempt to  rescue  the  king.  This  all  his  friends  ardently  de- 
sired, but  it  was  very  difficult  to  accomplish,  as  his 
majesty  was  surrounded  constantly  by  spies  and  guards, 
whose  interest  as  well  as  whose  business  it  was  to  keep 
him  under  the  strictest  surveillance. 

Numbers  of  Koreans  came  to  my  husband  with  various 
schemes  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  king's  release, 
seeking  his  advice  and  aid,  but  while  he  was  very  willing 
to  express  his  sympathy  with  their  object  and  his  disap- 
proval of  the  rebel  government,  he  did  not  consent  to  any 
part  in  any  of  their  projects,  partly  because  he  did  not 
know  whom  to  trust,  and  partly  because  none  were  such  as 
he,  a  missionary,  could  take  part  in  or  support.  I  do  not 
doubt,  however,  that  if  he  could  have  seen  a  way  to  do  so, 
he  would  gladly  have  sacrificed  much  to  have  assisted  the 
king  to  escape  to  a  place  of  safety,  where  he  could  estab- 
lish his  own  government  without  fear  of  the  combinations 
formed  against  him. 

The  plans  of  the  rescue  party  were  made  very  secretly, 
so  that  none  of  the  missionaries  at  least  knew  anything  of 
them,  though  two  of  the  leaders,  General  Yun  and  an- 
other, were  in  our  house  till  a  late  hour  the  previous 
night,  and  perhaps  to  this  fact  was  due  the  conviction 
which  a  number  of  people  entertained  that  my  husband 
was  concerned  in  the  loyal  but  unfortunate  plot.  The  ene- 
mies of  the  king,  however,  got  wind  of  the  plans  of  his 
friends,  and  through  spies  and  treachery  ferreted  it  all  out, 


160      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

and  prepared  themselves  fully.  One  of  the  traitors,  an 
army  officer,  who  pretended  to  be  ready  to  open  the  gates 
and  assist  the  rescue  party  from  within,  really  disclosed 
everything  to  the  false  cabinet,  and  was  prepared  with 
troops  to  receive  and  repel  the  loyalists.  On  the  evening 
set  for  the  rescue  of  the  king,  just  before  my  husband's 
return  from  the  palace,  where  he  had  been  all  the  after- 
noon, he  found  Dr.  Avison,  of  our  mission,  here  at  his 
home,  with  news  that  the  Koreans  were  preparing  to  at- 
tack the  palace  that  very  night,  as  he  had  just  learned 
from  one  of  the  party.  Mr.  Underwood  was  hardly  will- 
ing to  credit  the  idea,  sure  that  all  his  feelings  and  sym- 
pathies were  so  well  understood,  he  would  have  been  in- 
formed had  this  been  the  case ;  but  while  Dr.  Avison  was 
still  in  the  house,  the  secretary  of  the  American  legation 
called,  at  the  request  of  the  American  minister,  to  say  that 
they  had  authoritative  information  of  the  same  thing,  and 
as  the  king  would  no  doubt  be  much  alarmed,  and  would 
be  in  great  danger  from  the  traitors,  should  the  attack  suc- 
ceed, the  American  minister  asked  that  Mr.  Underwood 
would  spend  the  night  near  the  king's  person. 

As  the  gate  would  probably  be  closed  and  admittance 
refused  to  every  one,  the  minister  had  sent  his  card  for 
Mr.  Underwood  to  present  in  order  to  gain  admission.  It 
was  of  course  understood  that  this  was  only  a  suggestion, 
and  that  Mr.  Underwood  was  perfectly  at  liberty  to  refuse, 
but  he  was  really  glad  to  go,  and  felt  honored  in  being 
selected  for  this  service,  so  he  at  once  consented,  and  asked 
Mr.  Hulbert,  now  of  the  government  school,  to  accompany 
him.  Dr.  Avison  having  been  called  for  professionally, 
also  joined  them,  and  the  three  men  met  at  the  palace 
gates,  where  the  guard  at  once  refused  to  admit  them, 
positive  orders  having  been  sent  forbidding  the  entrance 
of  any  one.  Our  minister's  card  was  shown  to  no  appar- 


GUARDING   THE  KING  161 

ent  effect,  except  that  the  officer  on  guard  offered  to  go  up 
to  the  palace  with  it  and  obtain  permission.  This  Mr. 
Underwood  knew  would  be  futile,  for  the  cabinet  would 
almost  certainly  refuse,  so  he  replied,  "No,  I  must  be  ad- 
mitted at  once  and  without  delay,  I  came  at  the  request  of 
the  United  States  minister,  and  if  you  choose  to  refuse  his 
card,  and  his  messenger,  you  must  take  the  responsibility ; 
I  shall  return  at  once  and  give  him  your  reply."  As  an 
officer  had  been  severely  punished  only  a  few  days  before 
for  refusing  entrance  to  a  foreign  diplomat,  who  had  left 
the  palace  gates  in  awful  wrath,  the  men  now  on  guard 
hesitated.  "Decide,  and  at  once,"  said  Mr.  Underwood 
sternly.  This  conquered,  and  the  Americans  hurried  in. 
They  went  directly  to  the  king,  and  making  known  that 
they  had  come  for  the  night,  asked  his  wishes,  and  were 
requested  to  wait  in  General  Dye's  rooms,  close  at  hand,  to 
be  ready  on  the  first  alarm  to  take  their  places  near  his 
person. 

The  three  guardsmen  then  repaired  to  the  general's 
room  to  await  developments,  where  Mr.  Underwood  had 
some  conversation  with  General  Dye,  and  the  traitorous 
Korean  officer,  who  even  then  suspecting  that  Mr.  Under- 
wood had  some  part  in  the  friendly  plot,  tried  to  entrap 
him  and  to  induce  him  to  betray  himself  and  the  others. 
But  as  my  husband  knew  nothing  of  the  persons  engaged, 
or  any  of  their  plans,  and  was  himself  quite  innocent  of 
any  complicity  in  their  scheme,  it  was  impossible  for  any 
information  to  be  elicited  from  him.  Suddenly  at  twelve 
o'clock  the  report  of  a  gun  was  heard,  springing  up,  he  ran 
to  the  king's  apartments,  followed  closely  by  the  other 
two.  A  line  of  soldiers  was  drawn  up,  standing  shoulder 
to  shoulder  along  the  path,  who  called  "Halt,"  sharply,  as 
he  approached;  paying  no  attention  he  ran  swiftly  past 
them,  and  before  they  had  time  to  realize,  or  to  decide 


162      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

what  to  do,  Dr.  Avison  and  Mr.  Hulbert  had  followed. 
At  the  door  just  beyond  stood  a  couple  of  officers  with 
drawn  swords  crossed.  Mr.  Underwood  struck  the 
swords  up  with  his  revolver  and  rushed  through,  the  other 
two  men  entering  immediately  behind  him,  just  as  they 
heard  the  king  calling,  "Where  are  the  foreigners,  call  the 
foreigners."  "Here,  your  majesty.  Here  we  are,"  re- 
plied the  three  men,  entering  the  room,  where  the  king 
grasped  them  by  the  hand,  and  kept  them  on  either  side  of 
him  the  whole  night. 

As  for  the  poor  half-armed  party  of  the  king's  friends, 
they  were  allowed  to  proceed  until  well  within  the  pre- 
pared ambush,  and  when  they  discovered  the  trap,  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  escape.  Many  were  captured,  some 
killed,  the  rest  fled  in  all  directions.  This  of  course 
seated  more  firmly  in  power  the  rebels  whose  position  had 
till  now  been  more  than  questionable.  Many  arrests  were 
made,  and  executions  and  the  severest  punishments  meted 
out  to  those  who  were  convicted  of  having  dared  to  at- 
tempt the  restoration  of  the  king. 

While  Mr.  Underwood  was  at  the  palace  we  were 
having  our  own  little  drama  at  home.  A  new  missionary, 
a  tall  Westerner,  had  undertaken  the  protection  of  the 
household,  and  armed  wilth  a  big  six-shooter,  we  doubted 
not,  he  was  more  than  equal  to  any  ordinary  emergency. 
Our  chief  source  of  anxiety  (as  far  as  our  home  was  con- 
cerned) was  the  safety  of  the  prince,  who  with  one  atten- 
dant only,  occupied  a  room  in  an  ell  at  the  further  end  of 
the  house,  distant  from  our  apartments.  What  if  when  all 
attention  was  concentrated  upon  the  palace,  he  should  be 
carried  away  or  murdered  in  our  home,  by  the  enemies  of 
the  country!  We  felt  we  were  a  lamentably  small  party 
of  defense,  still  we  hoped  our  nervous  fears  were  ground- 
less. 


AN  ANXIOUS  NIGHT  163 

Just  as  we  were  about  to  retire,  however,  at  about  ten 
thirty,  a  sharp  rap  came  at  the  door  of  our  missionary 
guest's  room,  which  opened  to  the  garden.  This  was  evi- 
dently some  stranger,  as  any  of  our  acquaintances  would 
have  come  to  the  main  entrance.  I  was  called  at  once, 
with  the  added  information  that  a  Japanese  officer  was 
waiting  to  see  me ! 

I  found  a  fully  armed  Japanese  in  uniform,  who  asked 
for  the  prince.  My  suspicions  were  of  course  aroused, 
especially  as  I  could  only  conjecture  how  many  battalions 
he  might  have  concealed  around  the  corner  of  the  house. 
I  inquired  who  he  was  and  why  he  came  at  that  hour  to 
see  the  prince.  He  replied  in  good  Korean,  that  he  was 
his  particular  friend,  and  gave  me  a  name  which  was  that 
of  a  Korean  whom  I  knew  to  be  a  friend  of  our  guest, 
adding  that  he  had  dined  at  our  house  that  day,  handing 
me  a  card  engraved  with  Chinese  characters.  This  was 
palpably  false,  as  the  friend  of  the  prince  had  long  hair, 
done  in  a  top-knot,  with  a  Korean  hat  above  it,  this  man's 
hair  was  cut  short  like  a  Japanese.  The  Korean  wore 
white  silk  garments,  this  man  was  from  head  to  foot  a 
Japanese  soldier. 

"This  card  is  Chinese,  I  cannot  read  it,"  I  replied  coldly. 
"You  are  a  Japanese  officer  whom  I  have  never  seen  be- 
fore, you  cannot  see  the  prince  at  this  hour,  you  must  go 
away  and  return  in  the  morning  if  you  have  business  with 
him."  The  man,  however,  was  very  insistent  on  seeing 
the  prince  then,  in  fact  he  seemed  determined  to  take  no 
denials,  and  the  more  he  persisted,  the  more  I  became  con- 
vinced that  once  acquainted  with  the  prince's  whereabouts 
in  our  house,  he  would  call  up  his  concealed  assassins  and 
arrest  or  kill  him.  With  the  strengthening  of  suspicion, 
my  temper  rose,  and  my  verbs  took  on  lower  and  lower 
endings,  until  I  finally  ordered  him  with  the  most  degrad- 


164      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

ing  terminations  in  the  grammar,  to  leave  on  short  order. 
All  through  this  conversation  our  Westerner,  who  under- 
stood no  Korean,  had  been  repeating  at  intervals,  "Shall  I 
shoot,  Mrs.  Underwood?  If  you  say  so,  I'll  shoot," 
brandishing  his  big  revolver  in  an  excited  way,  dangerous 
to  all  concerned.  So  at  last  our  visitor  considering  his  at- 
tempt to  find  the  prince  hopeless,  reluctantly  went  away. 
We  felt  we  had  won  a  great  victory,  and  covered  our- 
selves with  glory,  in  thus  dispersing  the  enemy. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  prince,  whose  door  opened  also 
in  the  garden,  just  opposite  the  one  where  we  stood,  heard 
the  arrival,  the  long  conference,  the  clash  of  a  sword 
against  the  steps,  and  stood  guarding  his  chamber  door, 
while  his  attendant  with  drawn  sword  guarded  that  of  the 
closet,  which  happening  to  be  locked  they  supposed  also 
opened  on  the  garden.  Next  morning,  when  I  showed  the 
prince  the  card,  he  recognized  with  high  glee  the  name  of 
his  Korean  friend,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  individual 
himself  appeared.  He  had  for  purposes  of  disguise  cut 
his  hair  that  very  day,  and  had  donned  garments  which 
completely  changed  his  appearance.  It  was  owing  to  the 
success  of  this  disguise  that  he  had  been  ordered  from  our 
door  with  most  injurious  verb  endings.  I  did  not  apolo- 
gize very  abjectly,  however,  for  aside  from  the  fright  he 
had  put  me  in,  he  had  robbed  me  of  all  my  glory,  and  the 
occasion  of  all  its  romance,  and  dropped  it  to  the  level  of 
low  comedy,  and  while  the  laughter  of  the  family  was 
ringing  in  my  ears,  I  felt  I  could  not  forgive  him. 

The  morning  after  the  attack  on  the  palace  found  Gen- 
eral Yun,  the  leader  and  promoter,  in  our  sarang,  whither 
he  had  fled  for  shelter,  well  knowing  it  would  be  worse 
than  useless  to  go  to  his  own,  or  any  Korean  house.  He 
inquired  who  had  been  captured,  and  on  learning  how 
many  there  were,  remarked,  "Then  I  am  a  dead  man,"  well 


THE    ESCAPE    OF    GENERAL    YUN  165 

knowing  the  most  merciless  torture  would  be  used  to  ex- 
tract from  the  prisoners  the  names  of  all  concerned,  and  if 
his  whereabouts  were  known,  the  American  minister 
would  be  compelled  to  give  search  warrants  to  the  police. 
He  was  an  old  friend  of  my  husband,  who  promised  to 
conceal  him  as  long  as  possible,  and  get  him  out  of  the 
country  soon.  The  Russian  minister,  who  espoused  the 
king's  cause  as  warmly  as  any  of  us,  and  who  had  refused 
to  recognize  the  new  government,  was  consulted,  and  a 
plan  was  formed  to  get  General  Yun  to  China.  Next  to 
our  house  lay  that  of  another  Presbyterian  missionary, 
and  adjoining  that  the  Russian  legation,  just  beyond 
which  is  a  kind  of  diplomatic  club-house,  and  only  a  few 
steps  further  one  of  the  smaller  city  gates. 

So  Mr.  Yun  was  lodged  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  M 's  gate- 
quarters  (between  his  house  and  ours),  and  that  night  Mr. 
Underwood  shaved  and  dressed  the  general  and  his  friend 

in  Mr.  M 's  and  his  own  clothes,  a  fur  cap  well  drawn 

down  concealed  his  face.  Mr.  Underwood  conducted  the 
two  men  thus  disguised  through  the  Russian  legation,  the 
club  grounds  and  then  through  the  gates,  where  they  were 
never  suspected  to  be  other  than  what  they  looked.  A 
short  distance  beyond  the  gates  chairs  were  in  waiting. 

Mr.  M and  a  Bible  Society  agent  met  them  and 

escorted  them  to  Chemulpo,  where  they  were  met  by  a 
guard  from  a  Russian  gunboat,  on  which  they  were  con- 
veyed to  Chefoo,  and  there  transhipped,  and  finally  landed 
safe  in  Shanghai,  where  they  were  gladly  received  and 
hospitably  entertained  in  the  house  of  a  M.  E.  missionary, 
until  the  king  was  restored  to  power. 

Mr.  Underwood  was  bitterly  accused  in  Japanese  news- 
papers of  having  promoted,  and  even  led  the  harmless  at- 
tack on  the  palace,  and  though  as  he  was  not  only  abso- 
lutely innocent,  but  ignorant  of  it,  and  not  one  particle  of 


166      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

evidence  could  be  found,  he  was  obliged  to  endure  a 
great  deal  of  slander,  which  he  would  not  have  considered 
worth  a  second  thought  had  it  not  been  made  to  reflect  on 
his  profession  and  the  cause  he  lives  only  to  forward.  The 
two  facts  that  General  Yun  was  at  our  house  the  night  be- 
fore, and  that  Mr.  Underwood,  at  the  request  of  our  min- 
ister and  the  king,  was  at  the  palace  on  the  eventful  night, 
were  used  to  give  a  show  of  probability  to  stories  widely 
circulated,  and  allowed  to  remain  uncontradicted  by  those 
who  knew  the  facts. 

The  conspirators  having  defeated  the  restoration  party, 
now  carried  things  with  a  high  hand  indeed,  and  among 
the  other  obnoxious  and  tyrannical  sumptuary  laws,  which 
they  proclaimed  as  furthering  "Kaiwha,"  they  ordered  the 
summary  removal  of  all  top-knots,  from  the  palace  to  the 
hovel,  and  it  was  reported  that  even  the  highest  person- 
ages were  compelled,  in  spite  of  useless  protests,  to  under- 
go this  humiliating  treatment,  and  certain  it  is  that  the  at- 
tempt was  made  to  shear  every  sheep  in  the  flock.  The  ex- 
planation of  what  this  meant  must  be  reserved  for  an- 
other chapter. 


A     KOREAN     TOP-KNOT.        PAGE     167 


CHAPTER   XI 

Customs  Centering  around  the  Top-Knot — Christians  Sacri- 
ficing their  Top-Knots — A  Cruel  Blow — Beginning  of  Chris- 
tian Work  in  Koksan — A  Pathetic  Appeal — People  Baptize 
Themselves — Hard-hearted  Cho — The  King's  Escape — Peo- 
ple Rally  around  Him — Two  Americans  in  the  Interior — 
In  the  Midst  of  a  Mob — Mob  Fury — Korea  in  the  Arms  of 
Russia — Celebrating  the  King's  Birthday — Patriotic  Hymns 
— Lord's  Prayer  in  Korean. 

MANY  of  the  most  revered,  common,  and  firmly 
settled  of  the  customs  and  superstitions  of  the  people  of 
Korea  are,  as  it  were,  woven,  braided,  coiled  and  pinned 
into  their  top-knots,  on  which,  like  a  hairy  keystone,  seem 
to  hang,  and  round  which  are  centered  society,  religion 
and  politics.  The  pigtail  of  China  is  nothing  like  as  im- 
portant, for  it  is  really  a  mark  of  servitude,  or  was  such 
in  its  origin,  a  badge  laid  on  the  conquered  by  the  conquer- 
ing race.  But  not  so  the  top-knot,  which  is  many  centuries 
old,  and  which,  according  to  ancient  histories,  pictures, 
pottery  and  embroideries,  goes  as  far  back  as  the  existence 
of  the  nation. 

When  a  boy  becomes  engaged,  or  is  on  the  point  of  be- 
ing married,  a  solemn  ceremony  is  performed.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  proper  witnesses,  and  at  the  hands  of  proper  func- 
tionaries (among  whom  are  astrologers  or  soothsayers), 
the  hair,  which  has  hitherto  been  parted  like  a  girl's  and 
worn  in  a  long  braid  down  the  back,  is  shaved  from  a  small 
circular  spot  on  the  top  of  his  head,  and  the  remaining 
long  locks  combed  smoothly  upward,  and  tied  very  tightly 


i68      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

over  the  shaved  place.  They  are  then  twisted  and  coiled 
into  a  small  compact  knot,  between  two  and  three  inches 
high  and  about  one  in  diameter.  An  amber,  coral,  silver, 
or  even  gold  or  jewelled  pin  is  usually  fastened  through 
it.  The  Mangan,  a  band  of  net,  bound  with  ribbon,  is 
then  fastened  on  round  the  head  below  the  top-knot  and 
above  the  ears,  holding  all  stray  hairs  neatly  in  place 
(when  a  man  obtains  rank  a  small  open  horse-hair  cap  is 
placed  over  the  top-knot),  and  over  all  the  hat,  which  (be- 
ing also  of  open  work,  bamboo  splints,  silk  or  horsehair) 
permits  it  to  be  seen.  Fine  new  clothes  are  then  donned, 
especially  a  long  coat,  and  the  boy  has  become  a  man !  A 
feast  is  made,  and  he  goes  forth  to  call  upon  and  be  con- 
gratulated by  his  father's  friends.  Either  on  that  day  or 
the  following  he  is  married,  although,  as  has  been  said, 
some  boys  have  their  hair  put  up  when  they  become  en- 
gaged. 

No  matter  how  old  one  is,  without  a  top-knot  he  is  never 
considered  a  man,  addressed  with  high  endings,  or  treated 
with  respect.  After  assuming  the  top-knot,  no  matter  how 
young,  he  is  invested  with  the  dignities  and  duties  of  a  man 
of  the  family,  takes  his  share  in  making  the  offerings  and 
prayers  at  the  ancestral  shrines,  and  is  recognized  by  his 
ancestors'  spirits  as  one  of  the  family  who  is  to  do  them 
honor,  and  whom  they  are  to  protect  and  bless.  And  right 
here,  to  digress  a  little,  it  is  interesting  io  note  that  so 
intimately  is  this  custom  concerned  with  their  religion 
that  many  of  the  Christian  converts  are  now  cutting  off 
their  top-knots  when  they  become  converted,  regarding 
that  as  the  one  step  (after  destroying  their  idols)  which 
most  effectually  cuts  off 'the  old  life  and  its  superstitions, 
and  marks  them  as  having  come  out  from  their  family  and 
acquaintances  as  men  set  apart. 

They  have  begun  doing  this  quite  of  their  own  accord, 


TOP-KNOTS  169 

with  no  suggestion  from  the  missionaries,  and  in  some 
cases  in  opposition  to  the  advice  of  some  of  us,  who  dis- 
like to  see  them  laying  aside  old  customs  needlessly.  But 
it  is  growing  more  and  more  general  among  new  believers 
to  sacrifice  this  dear  object  of  pride  and  veneration,  and 
one  young  fellow  told  my  husband  it  was  impossible  to 
break  away  from  his  old  evil  associates  until  he  cut  his 
hair.  They  then  believed  he  was  in  earnest  and  let  him 
alone.  But  it  costs  much,  and  in  these  cases  is  done  quite 
voluntarily,  not  in  forced  obedience  to  the  mandates  of 
conquerors  and  traitors,  which  is  a  very  different 
matter. 

Again,  far  down  in  the  social  scale,  lower  than  the  boy 
with  the  pigtail,  whom  every  one  snubs,  ranking  next  to 
the  despised  butcher,  who  daily  defiles  his  hands  with 
blood  and  gore,  and  with  the  touch  of  dead  bodies,  is  the 
Buddhist  priest  who  wears  his  hair  shaved,  a  creature  so 
low,  that  he  was  not  at  that  time  allowed  to  defile  the  capi- 
tal city  by  entering  its  gates.  To  this  grade  were  all  the 
sons  of  Korea  now  to  be  reduced.  Tender  associations  of 
early  manhood,  honored  family  traditions,  ghostly  super- 
stition, the  anger  and  disgust  of  ancestral  spirits,  the  iron 
grip  of  long  custom,  the  loathing  of  the  effeminate,  sen- 
sual and  despised  Buddhist  priests,  all  forbade  this  dese- 
cration. Their  pride,  self-respect  and  dignity  were  all 
assailed  and  crushed  under  foot.  Sullen  angry  faces  were 
seen  everywhere,  sounds  of  wailing  and  woe  were  heard 
continually  in  every  house,  for  the  women  took  it  even 
harder  than  the  men.  Farmers  and  carriers  of  food  and 
fuel  refused  to  bring  their  produce  to  market,  for  guards 
stood  at  the  gates,  and  cut  off  with  their  swords  every 
top-knot  as  it  came  through.  Men  were  stationed  also  in 
all  the  principal  streets,  cutting  off  every  top-knot  that 
passed,  and  all  public  officials  and  soldiers  were  at  once 


i;o      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

shaved.  There  was  a  voice  heard,  lamentation  and 
mourning  and  great  weeping. 

It  was  a  cruel  blow  at  personal  liberty,  which  Anglo- 
Saxons  would  die  rather  than  suffer,  and  which  the  help- 
lessness of  this  weak  nation  made  the  more  pitiful  and  in- 
excusable. It  was  struck  shrewdly  too,  at  one  of  the 
specially  distinguishing  marks  of  Koreans,  setting  them 
apart  from  Japanese  and  Chinese,  designed,  we  could  not 
help  thinking,  as  one  of  the  first  and  important  parts  of  a 
scheme  to  blot  out  Korea's  national  identity,  and  merge 
her  into  one  with  Japan;  but  if  this  was  the  intention, 
never  was  anything  more  mistakenly  planned.  It  was 
hotly  resented  to  the  very  heart  of  the  country,  and  added 
still  deeper  dye  and  bitter  flavor  to  the  long-nourished 
hatred  Koreans  felt  for  their  ancient  conqueror  and  foe. 
As  for  us  (some  of  us),  we  put  ourselves  in  the  Korean's 
place,  recalled  our  national  experience  and  harbored  num- 
bers of  Koreans  on  our  place,  protecting  them  from  the 
knife  as  long  as  possible.  The  cup  of  iniquity  was  nearly 
full.  The  queen,  looked  upon  as  the  mother  of  her  people, 
had  been  murdered,  the  king  virtually  imprisoned,  the 
country  ruled  by  the  dictum  of  conspirators  and  tools  of 
her  conquerors,  and  now  this  last  blow  at  every  'family  in 
the  nation  was  too  much.  A  deep  spirit  of  anger  and  re- 
volt stirred  the  whole  country ;  yet  they  had  no  leaders, 
no  arms,  no  organization  and  knew  not  what  to  do,  a 
poor  down-trodden  simple  folk,  who  knew  not  on  whom 
to  lean  for  help,  and  who  had  not  learned  to  cry  to  him 
who  hears,  defends  and  takes  up  the  cause  of  the  poor 
and  needy. 

Bands  of  Tonghaks  again  ranged  the  country,  insurrec- 
tions broke  out  in  various  localities,  some  of  the  shaved 
magistrates  who  went  to  the  country  were  sent  back  by 
the  mobs,  who  refused  to  receive  them  as  rulers,  some 


THE  GOSPELS   IN  KOKSAN  171 

were  actually  killed,  and  the  magistracies  destroyed,  the 
soldiers  were  powerless  to  subdue  the  disturbances,  and 
things  seemed  to  be  growing  from  bad  to  worse. 
Marines  were  ordered  to  the  legations  from  Chemulpo 
(where  there  were  many  foreign  gunboats  and  war 
vessels),  and  no  one  knew  what  next  to  expect,  when  sud- 
denly an  entire  change  in  the  whole  situation  took  place. 

But  now  I  must  return  for  a  while  to  other  matters.  In 
the  district  of  Koksan,  in  northern  Whang  Hai  Do  (Yel- 
low Sea  Province),  about  two  hundred  miles  north  from 
Seoul,  a  very  interesting  Christian  work  had  started,  as 
so  much  of  our  work  has,  through  God's  own  direct  deal- 
ings with  the  people,  by  his  word  and  Spirit.  A  man  from 
that  place  having  come  up  to  Seoul  on  business,  and  re- 
ceiving some  small  kindness  from  Mr.  Underwood,  which 
he  desired  to  acknowledge,  felt  that  he  could  do  nothing 
more  delicately  complimentary  and  grateful  than  to  make 
a  show  of  interest  in  his  "doctrine,"  and  so  bought  four 
gospels  in  Chinese,  which  he  took  home  in  his  pack,  and 
forthwith  shelved  unread.  Here  they  remained  for 
months,  I  am  not  sure  how  long. 

Finally  one  day,  a  friend  noticed  them,  took  them  down, 
all  grimy  with  dust,  and  asked  what  they  were  and  whence 
they  came.  The  owner  replied  that  he  had  never  read 
them,  but  that  they  were  books  containing  a  new  doctrine 
taught  by  foreigners  in  Seoul.  Dr.  Cho's  curiosity  was 
aroused,  he  borrowed,  took  them  home  and  fell  to  reading 
with  more  and  more  avidity  the  further  he  proceeded.  I 
would  not  give  up  the  priceless  heritage  of  Christian  an- 
cestry, the  struggles,  prayers  and  victories  of  godly  fore- 
fathers, and  all  that  Christian  training  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another  for  centuries  means,  but  yet  I  would  give 
much  to  have  been  able  once  to  read  the  four  gospels  as 
that  heathen  read  them,  with  no  preconceived  opinions, 


172      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

no  discolorations  of  red,  green  or  even  blue  theological 
glasses,  no  criticisms  or  commentaries  of  "Worldly  Wise- 
men,"  or  bigoted  fanatics,  reading  their  own  ideas  between 
the  lines,  but  with  an  absolutely  unbiased  mind  so  as  to  be 
able  to  receive  that  wonderful  revelation  as  a  sweet  glad 
surprise ;  sentence  after  sentence,  truth  after  truth  bloom- 
ing into  sudden  glory,  where  the  darkness  of  ignorance 
had  reigned. 

One  almost  envies  that  heathen  his  compensations.  He 
received  the  word  with  joy,  wondered  and  adored.  Here 
was  a  man  well  read  in  the  philosophical  teachings,  the 
empty  husks  of  Confucianism  and  Buddhism,  but  who  had 
never  heard  one  word  from  any  Christian  teacher.  Here 
was  a  mind  free  from  prejudice,  and  this  was  the  result  of 
contact  with  God's  Word.  He  believed  and  accepted  it  for 
God's  truth  with  all  his  heart,  and  gave  himself  unre- 
servedly to  Christ,  turning  completely  away  from  his  old 
superstitions  and  systems  of  philosophy.  Quickly  the 
good  news  spread,  not  more  from  his  glad  telling  of  his 
new-found  joy  than  from  the  wonderful  change  in  the 
man  himself. 

Others  also  soon  believed,  and  an  appeal  was  sent  to 
Seoul  for  some  one  to  come  and  teach  them  more,  lest 
something  should  remain  misunderstood,  or  unfulfilled  of 
their  dear  Lord's  commands.  But  in  Seoul,  and  else- 
where, workers  were  few,  hands  were  reaching  out  from 
all  directions  for  help,  the  Macedonian  cry  was  ringing 
pathetically  from  many  quarters,  the  harvest  great,  the 
laborers  few.  The  Bible  must  be  translated,  work  already 
started  must  be  cared  for  and  watched,  in  a  word,  there 
was  no  one  who  could  go.  Again  and  again  came  that 
call,  and  at  last  a  letter  which  brought  tears  to  our  eyes. 
"Why,"  said  they,"  will  no  one  come  to  help  us,  is  no  one 
willing  to  teach  us,  have  we  so  far  sunk  in  sin  that  God 


RUSSIAN      LEGATION      HOUSE.       PAGE     174 
INDEPENDENCE    ARCH.        PACE    38 


A  PATHETIC  APPEAL  173 

will  not  allow  us  to  have  salvation?"  Mr.  Underwood 
started  almost  at  once,  with  Dr.  Avison,  about  one  month 
after  the  promulgation  of  the  laws  for  cutting  the  top- 
knots. The  excitement  had  somewhat  abated  in  the  city, 
and  the  call  from  Koksan  admitted  of  no  delay.  Making 
short  stops  along  the  road  for  medical  and  evangelistic 
work,  going  on  foot,  they  reached  Koksan  about  three 
weeks  after  leaving  Seoul. 

They  found  a  little  company  of  earnest  simple-hearted 
believers,  who  had  thrown  away  their  idols,  ceased  their 
ancestor  worship,  and  were  in  all  things,  as  far  as  they 
knew,  obeying  the  Lord.  But  "the  washing  rite,"  as  bap- 
tism was  translated,  puzzled  them.  "He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved."  What  then  was  this? 
They  pondered  and  studied.  God  showed  them  it  was  in 
some  way  a  sign  of  washing  from  sin,  and  when  after  long 
waiting,  no  teacher  came,  they  agreed  that  each  going  to 
his  own  home  should  wash  himself  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  praying  for  himself 
and  his  brethren,  that  if  in  anything  they  had  sinned  in 
this  rite,  God  would  forgive  them.  And  so  the  mission- 
aries found  them,  and  though  for  the  sake  of  due  order 
they  were  baptized  in  the  prescribed  way,  it  was  felt  that 
in  God's  sight  it  had  already  been  done. 

When  for  the  first  time  they  all  sat  down  to  com- 
memorate the  Lord's  death  in  the  service  of  bread  and 
wine,  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  room.  Tears 
streamed  from  the  face  of  Dr.  Cho,  and  later  one  of  his 
neighbors  said,  when  speaking  in  an  experience  meeting, 
"Old  Cho,  known  as  'hard-hearted  Cho,'  who  as  a  boy 
never  uttered  a  cry  when  his  father  flogged  him,  who 
never  wept  when  he  laid  his  aged  mother  in  the  grave, 
whose  eyes  never  moistened  when  his  beloved  wife  died, 
or  when  he  buried  his  eldest  son,  on  whose  cheek  man 


174      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

never  saw  a  tear,  Cho  weeps.    What  miracle  has  brought 
tears  to  his  eyes?" 

While  Dr.  Avison  and  Mr.  Underwood  were  in  Koksan, 
wondering  and  worshiping  over  the  proofs  of  how  God 
blesses  his  word,  applied  to  simple  hearts,  startling  things 
were  taking  place  in  Seoul.  The  king,  who  had  now  been 
four  months  helpless  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  suddenly 
made  good  his  escape  to  the  Russian  legation ! 

The  story,  as  we  heard  it  from  one  near  the  king,  was 
as  follows :  Wearied  and  sick  at  heart  of  affairs  of  state, 
his  majesty  retired  to  the  women's  apartments,  where  he 
spent  his  entire  time,  escaping  thus  to  some  extent  the  de- 
testable espionage  of  his  enemies,  who  delegated  two 
elderly  women,  one  the  wife  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  and  an- 
other, whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  his  majesty  in  turn,  one 
by  day,  the  other  by  night.  Their  vigilance  was,  however, 
in  some  way  sufficiently  eluded,  so  that  a  plan  for 
the  royal  prisoner's  escape  was  arranged  with  two  of  the 
palace  women,  which  was  successfully  carried  out  as 
follows : 

On  a  certain  birthday  festival,  both  of  the  duennas  who, 
as  was  said,  took  turns,  watching  and  sleeping,  were  in- 
vited to  celebrate  with  the  king,  and  to  partake  of  a  great 
feast,  with  plenty  of  wine  and  prolonged  amusements. 
All  night  the  king's  watchers  revelled,  both  falling  into  a 
heavy  sleep  before  dawn.  This  is  the  story,  but  I  like  to 
think  that  as  one  of  the  women  was  probably  the  king's 
mother,  her  heart  was  tender  toward  her  unhappy  son,  and 
that  she  purposely  relaxed  her  watch.  It  would  gild  a 
little  the  long  dark  tale  of  all  that  preceded  to  find  a 
touch  of  sweet  human  affection  right  here.  At  any  rate, 
when  every  one  in  the  palace  was  off  guard,  supposing  the 
king  and  crown  prince  asleep,  they  entered  a  couple  of 
women's  chairs  which  were  waiting.  The  bearers  of  these 


THE   KING'S   ESCAPE  175 

chairs  had  been  specially  selected  and  paid  with  a  view  to 
their  carrying  two,  and  thought  nothing  of  it,  as  the 
palace  women  often  went  out  to  their  homes  in  this  way. 
So  in  each  chair  a  woman  sat  in  front  of  its  royal  occu- 
pant, screening  him  from  view  should  any  one  glance  in. 
The  sentinels  at  the  gate  had  been  provided  with  hot  re- 
freshments and  plenty  of  strong  drink,  and  were  so  fully 
occupied  that  the  chairs  with  their  valuable  burden  passed 
out  unnoticed  and  unhindered.  They  were  expected  at  the 
Russian  legation,  where  one  hundred  and  sixty  marines 
from  the  port  had  just  been  called  up,  and  there  they 
speedily  made  their  way,  arriving  at  about  seven  or  eight 
in  the  morning  of  February  n,  1896. 

This  meant  the  downfall  of  the  usurpers.  With  the 
king's  person  went  all  their  claim  to  authority  and  power, 
and  it  also  meant  that  Japanese  influence  in  Korean  affairs 
was  over  for  a  time,  and  that  the  country  had  been  almost 
thrown  into  the  arms  of  Russia,  by  the  short-sighted 
policy  of  the  minister,  who  had  desired  to  "establish  the 
prestige  of  Japan." 

As  our  compound  was  very  close  to  the  Russian  lega- 
tion, and  fronting  on  the  same  street,  we  were  soon  aware 
that  something  very  unusual  had  occurred.  The  whole 
road,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  was  filled  with  a  surg- 
ing mob  of  soldiers,  commoners,  and  the  chairs  and  re- 
tainers of  the  nobility.  Guards  and  sentinels  were 
stationed  every  few  paces  along  our  street,  and  there  was 
a  loud  and  almost  terrifying  babel  of  shouting  voices,  in 
the  din  and  confusion  of  which  it  was  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish anything.  I  sent  at  once  for  one  or  two  of  Mr. 
Underwood's  writers  and  literary  helpers,  who  told  me 
that  the  king  had  arrived  a  short  while  before  at  the  Rus- 
sian legation,  and  had  assumed  the  reins  of  government, 
and  that  the  army,  officials  and  people  were  rallying 


176      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

around  him,  each  anxious  to  precede  the  other  in  protes- 
tations of  loyalty  and  devotion. 

Then  I  thought  rather  busily  for  a  few  seconds.  My 
first  reflection  of  course  was,  "How  will  this  affect  the  ab- 
sent missionaries?"  How  would  it  affect  Japanese  (now 
distrusted)  and  through  them  all  foreigners  in  the  in- 
terior? Would  the  people  in  the  country  not  be  likely  to 
wreak  the  vessels  of  their  wrath  upon  them,  and  would 
they  discriminate  between  them  and  others  wearing 
similar  clothing?  I  feared  not,  and  that  the  probabilities 
were  that  Dr.  Avison  and  Mr.  Underwood  might  be  in 
considerable  danger,  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  king's 
escape,  and  the  fall  of  the  pro- Japanese  party  became 
known.  Word  must  then  be  sent,  and  soon,  in  order  if 
possible  to  reach  them  before  the  news  reached  the  na- 
tives. I  sent  a  letter  to  our  very  kind  friend,  the  Russian 
minister,  with  a  message  to  his  majesty,  inquiring 
whether  anything  could  be  done  for  the  protection  and 
safe  return  of  the  two  missionaries.  I  knew  an  imme- 
diate reply  could  hardly  be  expected,  such  was  the  rush  of 
business,  and  the  number  of  visitors  and  claimants  on 
their  time,  so,  to  leave  no  means  untried,  I  called  up  one 
of  the  copyists,  informed  him  of  the  necessity  for  speed, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  start  that  very  hour 
with  a  letter  and  warning  message  to  my  husband.  A 
short  time  after,  fearing  that  something  might  occur  to 
detain  one  messenger,  I  sent  another  by  a  different  road. 
The  second  man  was  stopped  by  Tonghaks,  looking  for 
foreigners,  who  for  some  reason  suspected  him,  searched 
him,  ripped  open  his  clothes,  where  they  found  my  letter 
(which  of  course  they  could  not  read),  and  forced  him 
to  go  back  to  Seoul. 

On  the  day  following  that  on  which  my  messengers  had 
started,  a  kind  letter  from  the  Russian  legation  came,  say- 


IN   THE   MIDST   OF  A   MOB  177 

ing  that  the  king  would  at  once  send  a  guard  to  Koksan 
to  bring  back  the  two  Americans,  and  at  about  the  same 
time,  a  wealthy  nobleman  in  Songdo,  a  friend  of  both, 
and  brother-in-law  of  General  Yun,  knowing  where  they 
were,  and  fearing  for  them,  also  sent  a  special  posse  of 
men  to  see  them  safely  home. 

Having  done  all  that  I  could,  the  most  difficult  of  all 
tasks,  that  of  waiting,  remained,  but  I  remembered  that  I 
had  a  sister  in  the  same  situation,  only  that  she  probably 
was  not  quite  as  well  informed  as  myself  of  the  exact  state 
of  affairs,  and  did  not  know  that  any  word  had  been  sent 
to  our  husbands.  The  street  running  in  front  of  our  house 
was  packed  with  excited  people,  but  I  decided  to  make  my 
way  through  them  in  my  chair  and  go  down  to  Mrs.  Avi- 
son,  where  she  was  living  at  a  long  distance  from  the  rest 
of  us,  and  try  to  set  her  mind  at  rest  by  telling  her  what 
measures  had  been  taken  for  the  safety  of  the  absentees, 
and  of  what  was  happening  at  our  end  of  the  town.  I 
soon  passed  the  crowd  in  our  neighborhood,  who  were  in 
no  way  concerned  with  me,  and  in  a  little  while  reached 
the  great  street,  which  runs  toward  the  palace,  and  crosses 
that  on  which  the  hospital  and  Dr.  Avison's  home  stood. 

As  we  reached  the  corner,  I  saw  a  great  mob  of  the 
roughest  and  wildest  looking  men,  with  flushed  faces  and 
dishevelled  hair.  They  came  tearing  towards  us  shout- 
ing to  each  other,  "The  Japanese  soldiers  are  coming,  they 
are  firing.  Run,  run,  run !"  I  did  not  fancy  the  company 
of  these  gentlemen  any  more  than  their  looks,  nor  did  I 
care  to  be  a  target  for  Japanese  troops,  who  were  sup- 
posed to  be  chasing  them.  So  I  also  adjured  my  chair 
coolies  with  some  emphasis  to  "run."  The  whole  mob 
came  sweeping  round  the  corner,  into  the  thoroughfare 
on  which  we  were.  It  was  not  a  dignified  or  desirable 
situation,  a  Presbyterian  missionary  in  the  midst  of  a  wild 


178      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

scramble,  and  with  a  panic-stricken  crowd  of  roughs 
escaping  for  dear  life,  from  the  avengers  of  justice,  but 
there  was  no  help  for  it.  My  coolies  needed  no  urging, 
they  were  as  anxious  to  get  away  as  any  of  us,  but  they 
certainly  deserved  great  credit,  that  under  the  circum- 
stances they  did  not  leave  me  to  my  fate,  and  try  to  save 
only  themselves.  A  few  moments  running  brought  us  to 
the  hospital  gates,  where  we  turned  in  hastily,  and  were 
safe.  It  was  not  cold,  and  yet  I  found  myself  shivering 
like  an  aspen.  Strange ! 

Mrs.  Avison  and  I  were  soon  laughing,  however,  over 
my  late  escapade,  and  as  soon  as  my  errand  was  finished  I 
hurried  home  another  way,  none  too  soon,  for  the  streets 
were  full  of  angry-looking  men,  some  of  whom  scowled  at 
me,  and  muttered,  "foreigner."  That  night  we  learned 
that  two  of  the  pro-Japanese  cabinet  had  been  killed  on  the 
street  and  torn  to  pieces  by  the  mob;  that  mob  which, 
having  finished  its  awful  work,  accompanied  me  down  the 
street  that  afternoon.  A  young  Japanese  was  also  stoned 
to  death  on  the  street  that  day.  In  a  few  days  Dr.  Avison 
and  Mr.  Underwood  were  with  us  quite  safe.  My  faithful 
and  fleet-footed  messenger  had  taken  a  short  cut,  and 
reached  Koksan  in  an  amazingly  short  time. 

The  news  filled  our  husbands  with  anxiety  for  us,  not 
knowing  how  far  mob  violence  might  go,  and  they  made 
the  distance  of  near  two  hundred  miles  in  sixty  hours, 
walking  nearly  all  the  way  (the  pack-ponies  go  much  too 
slow),  sleeping  only  an  hour  or  so  at  night,  and  eating  as 
they  walked.  They  missed  both  the  king's  guard  and  the 
posse  from  Songdo,  which  had  taken  a  different  road,  but 
met  many  poor  frightened  natives  along  the  road,  who 
knew  not  where  to  turn  or  to  whom  to  look  for  protection, 
with  Tonghaks  on  the  one  hand  and  pro- Japanese  on  the 
other.  Later  we  heard  of  many  sad  tales  of  Japanese  citi- 


THE  KING  IN  THE   RUSSIAN   LEGATION       179 

zens,  overtaken  in  the  country,  who  were  very  summarily 
dealt  with  by  the  exasperated  people.  Japanese  troops 
were  sent  by  their  minister  to  bring  back  all  who  could  be 
found,  and  large  sums  were  demanded  from  the  Korean 
government  in  payment  for  the  lives  thus  sacrificed.  To 
which  demand,  it  has  been  suggested,  the  reply  might  have 
been  made,  "Who  is  to  indemnify  Korea  for  the  life  of  her 
queen  ?" 

Thus  ended  for  a  time  the  unhappy  reign  of  the 
Japanese,  which,  after  their  victories  over  the  Chinese,  had 
seemed  to  begin  so  auspiciously,  and  which,  had  they  been 
contented  with  a  temperate  and  conciliating  policy,  would 
probably  have  grown  stronger  and  stronger. 

The  king  remained  for  a  year  at  the  Russian  legation, 
where  he  was  treated  with  the  truest  courtesy,  for  instead 
of  being  in  any  way  coerced  or  influenced  for  the  benefit 
of  Russian  interests,  he  was  allowed  the  most  perfect 
liberty  and  interfered  with  in  no  particular.  To  such  an 
extent  did  the  true  gentleman  who  acted  as  the  king's  host 
carry  his  scruples,  that  he  refused  to  advise  his  majesty  in 
any  way  even  when  requested  to  do  so.  On  the  occasion 
of  the  king's  birthday,  which  came  in  September,  it  oc- 
curred to  my  husband  that  it  would  be  a  good  opportunity 
to  give  the  Christians  a  chance  to  express  their  loyalty, 
and  at  the  same  time  advertise  Christianity  more  widely 
than  ever  before  at  one  time.  The  idea  did  not  occur  until 
a  day  or  two  before  the  time  when  we  were  reminded  that 
the  royal  birthday  was  close  at  hand. 

The  time  was  short,  but  permission  was  obtained  to  use 
a  large  government  building  near  the  Independence  Arch, 
which  would  hold  over  one  thousand  people,  and  adver- 
tised widely  that  a  meeting  of  prayer  and  praise  would  be 
held  there  by  the  Christians  to  celebrate  the  king's  birth- 
day. A  platform  was  erected,  the  building  draped  with 


i8o      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

flags,  and  speakers  obtained,  among  whom  were  members 
of  the  cabinet,  several  gifted  Koreans,  and  foreign  mis- 
sionaries. 

He  sat  up  all  night  preparing  tracts,  of  which  thousands 
were  printed  at  the  M.  E.  Mission  Press  for  that  special 
occasion,  and  also  a  hymn,  to  be  set  to  the  tune  "America." 

I. 

For  my  dear  country's  weal, 
O  God  to  Thee  I  pray, 
Graciously  hear. 
Without  Thy  mighty  aid 
Our  land  will  low  be  laid. 
Strengthen  Thou  this  dear  land, 
Most  gracious  Lord. 

II. 

Long  may  our  great  king  live, 
This  is  our  prayer  to-day 
With  one  accord. 
His  precious  body  guard, 
Keep  it  from  every  ill. 
Heavenly  Lord  and  King, 
Grant  him  Thy  grace. 

III. 

By  Thy  almighty  power, 
Our  royal  emperor 
Has  been  enthroned. 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  grant 
Our  nation  never  fail. 
Long  live  our  emperor, 
Upheld  by  Thee. 

IV. 

For  this  Thy  gracious  gift, 
Our  independence,  Lord, 
Bless  we  thy  name. 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  KOREAN      181 

This  never  ceasing  be, 
While  as  a  people  we, 
Nobles  and  commons  all, 
United  pray. 

V. 

To  Thee,  the  only  Lord, 
Maker  and  King  Divine, 
We  offer  praise. 
When  all  shall  worship  Thee, 
Happy  our  land  shall  be, 
Powerful,  rich  and  free, 
Beneath  Thy  smile. 


Early  in  the  day  Christian  men  and  boys  were  distribut- 
ing copies  of  the  tract  and  hymns  throughout  the  whole 
city,  and  long  before  the  hour  of  meeting  men  of  all 
classes  began  flocking  toward  that  vicinity,  and  when  the 
speakers  and  missionaries  arrived  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  obtain  access.  The  building  was  soon  packed  with  a 
solid  mass  of  standing  people,  and  all  the  wide  exits  were 
thronged,  the  steps  and  the  immediate  vicinity. 

The  services  were  opened  with  prayer,  addresses 
(mainly  religious)  were  made,  hymns  were  sung,  and 
finally  were  closed  by  the  Lord's  prayer,  repeated  in  con- 
cert. It  was  thrilling  to  hear  those  words  repeated  rever- 
ently by  so  large  a  number  of  people. 

I  will  give  an  interlinear  translation  of  the  prayer,  so 
that  readers  may  know  just  what  are  the  words  used  by 
Korean  Christians: 


182      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

"Hanalau  Kaysin  oori  abbachi-sin  jah  yeh,  Ihrahme  keruk 

Our     Father,  who  art  in    heaven,  hallowed 

hahsime  natanah  op  se  myh,  narahhe  im  haopse  myh,  tutse 

be  Thy          name.     Thy  kingdom  come.    Thy 

Hanalaya-saw  chirum  dahaysoh  deh  iroyohgeita,  onal  nal 

will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.      Give    \ 

oori  ai  gay  il  young  hal  yang  sik  eul,  choo  apsego,  oori  ga 

us        this        day          our         daily        bread.    And 
oorigay  teuk  chay  ban  charal,  sah  hayah  choonan  kot 

forgive  us  our  debts  as 

katchi,  oori  chayral,  sah  hayah  chu  up  se  myh.    Oori  ga 

we        forgive        our        debtors,        and        lead 
seeheumay  teul  jee  mal  kay  hah  up  seego,  tahman,  ooriral, 

us          not          into          temptation,  but 

heung  ak  ay  saw,  ku  ha  ap  soh  soh.    Tai  kay,  nara  wha, 

deliver          us          from       evil,          for    Thine 
quansay    wha,    eing   guanqhi,    choo    kay,    eng   wani   it 

is   the   kingdom,   and   the   power,   and   the  glory, 
sa-ap-nay-ita  Amen. 
for  ever.      Amen. 


CHAPTER   XII 

A  Korean  Christian  Starts  Work  in  Haing  Ju — Changed  Lives 
of  Believers — A  Reformed  Saloon-ke:per — The  Conversion 
of  a  Sorceress — Best  of  Friends — A  Pleasant  Night  on  the 
Water — Evidence  of  Christian  Living — Our  Visit  in  Sorai — 
A  Korean  Woman's  Work — How  a  Kang  Acts  at  Times — 
Applicants  for  Baptism — Two  Tonghaks — In  a  Strait  betwixt 
Two — Midnight  Alarms — Miss  Jacobson's  Death. 

IN  the  late  fall  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Underwood  and  I 
started  again  on  a  trip  to  the  interior,  the  first  we  had 
made  together  since  our  wedding  journey,  but  now  we 
were  accompanied  by  our  child,  six  years  old,  and  a  native 
woman,  who  acted  as  cook,  nurse  and  general  assistant. 
She  rode  in  a  native  "pokyo"  or  chair  with  the  child,  I  in 
another,  while  Mr.  Underwood  walked  or  rode  his  bicycle, 
as  opportunity  permitted.  Our  first  destination  was 
Haing  Ju,  a  dirty  little  fishing  village  on  the  river,  about 
ten  miles  from  the  capital.  Work  had  started  here  just 
after  the  cholera  in  the  fall  of  1895  through  the  teaching 
of  a  native  named  Shin  Wha  Suni,  a  poor  fellow  who  had, 
according  to  his  own  confession,  been  hanging  around  us 
for  some  time,  pretending  to  be  interested  in  Christianity, 
in  the  hope  of  getting  some  lucrative  employment  in  con- 
nection with  church  work. 

After  the  cholera  hospital  was  opened,  he  was  there  on 
several  occasions,  and  was  much  surprised  to  find  that  for- 
eign women  would  spend  whole  nights  nursing  sick  Ko- 
rean coolies.  When  he  chanced  to  see  one  weeping  over  a 
poor  man,  whom  all  her  efforts  had  failed  to  save,  he 


184      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

went  away  astonished  and  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
"there  is  something  in  that  religion  that  makes  them  love 
us  like  that,  something  that  forgets  self,  something  that  I 
have  never  dreamed  of  before,  something  mysterious, 
glorious,  oh,  that  it  were  mine !" 

He  hungered  and  God  fed  him.  He  sought  and  found 
the  Saviour,  and  when  he  had  found  him,  he  set  forth 
at  once  to  tell  the  good  news  to  others.  Taking  a  jikay, 
the  frame  which  Koreans  wear  on  their  backs  to  facilitate 
the  carrying  of  heavy  loads,  and  which  all  native  carriers 
use,  he  started  forth  to  the  country  to  earn  his  living  in 
this  humble  way  while  chandohaoing  or  "passing  on  the 
Word."  He  went  as  far  as  Haing  Ju,  and  there  on  the 
sand  of  the  river  bank  he  talked  to  scoffing  people  all  day. 

At  night,  when  it  was  dark,  one  of  the  men  who  had 
seemed  to  treat  his  message  lightly,  came  and  asked  him 
to  come  to  his  house  and  talk  the  matter  over  at  more 
length.  He  went,  and  soon  another  believer  was  gained. 
"Oh,  it  was  good,  the  taste  of  a  soul  saved,"  said  the  new 
preacher.  "Now  it  seemed  to  me  I  could  never  be  satisfied 
with  anything  else;  could  never  rest  until  I  had  more." 
The  man  who  had  been  converted  offered  the  use  of  his 
house  as  a  preaching  place.  The  men  gathered  in  one 
room,  the  women  in  another,  and  Shin  read  the  gospels 
and  the  tracts  and  taught  them  the  catechism  and  hymns. 
The  number  of  Christians  grew  from  week  to  week,  and 
the  little  meeting  place  became  too  small  and  had  to  be  en- 
larged. The  whole  tone  of  the  village  gradually  changed, 
and  from  being  known  as  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  dis- 
reputable places  on  the  river,  it  now  became  a  model  of 
decency  and  respectability. 

Testimony  to  this  effect  was  offered  by  some  farmers, 
who  appeared  one  day  in  my  husband's  study  and  asked 
him  if  he  had  anything  to  do  with  the  Christians  in  Haing 


A   REFORMED    SALOON-KEEPER  185 

Ju.  He  replied  in  the  affirmative,  half  afraid  the  people 
had  come  with  some  charge  against  them.  "Well,"  the 
strangers  said,  "we  should  like  to  buy  the  books  which 
teach  the  doctrine  they  are  practicing  there,  we  want  to 
learn  that  doctrine  in  our  village  too." 

Their  village,  Sam  Oui,  was  not  quite  three  miles  away, 
and  in  former  times  they  had  been  much  troubled  by  the 
brawls  and  bad  character  of  Haing  Ju.  Their  vegetables 
had  been  stolen  from  the  fields,  their  fruit  and  chestnuts 
from  the  trees,  "but  now,"  said  they,  "the  people  not  only 
do  not  climb  the  trees  for  the  nuts,  but  the  boys  leave 
those  on  the  ground  untouched." 

Here  was  power  in  a  faith  which  kept  hungry  boys 
from  carrying  off  even  nuts  lying  temptingly  in  reach. 
This  was  something  the  like  of  which  they  had  never  seen 
or  heard ;  they  had  been  taught  not  to  steal,  especially  if 
likely  to  be  discovered,  but  a  power  that  could  prevent 
men  and  boys  from  wishing  to  steal  was  miraculous.  One 
of  the  saloon-keepers  of  Haing  Ju,  a  man  whose  only 
source  of  livelihood  was  in  this  trade,  became  thoroughly 
converted,  and  at  once  realized  that  he  could  no  longer 
sell  drink  to  his  neighbors,  nor  could  he  conscientiously 
dispose  of  his  stock  in  trade  at  wholesale  to  other  dealers, 
so  he  emptied  it  all  on  the  street.  He  was  able  to  obtain 
a  little  work  now  and  then,  but  he  was  not  strong  enough 
for  coolie  labor.  He  had  no  trade  and  no  farm,  and  at 
times  his  need  was  great,  and  often  the  family  were  on  the 
verge  of  starvation,  but  the  man's  faith  never  failed,  he 
never  gave  up  his  hold  on  God.  Finally  sickness  attacked 
him,  he  became  very  lame,  and  hearing  of  the  hospital  in 
Seoul,  managed  to  be  conveyed  thither,  and  while  there  we 
heard  his  story,  and  as  I  needed  just  then  a  caretaker  for 
my  dispensary,  we  engaged  him  and  his  wife  to  live  on 
the  place  and  do  the  light  work  necessary.  His  leg  did 


i86      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

not  improve  much  at  the  hospital,  nor  did  the  doctor 
give  him  much  hope,  but  this,  too,  he  made  a  subject  of 
prayer  and  faith,  and  erelong  rejoiced  in  a  complete  re- 
covery. 

This  is  the  character  of  the  faith  of  these  hardy  fisher- 
men and  farmers  on  the  river.  As  we  approached  the 
village  we  were  astonished  to  hear  the  strains  of  a  Chris- 
tian hymn,  "Happy  day,  happy  day,  when  Jesus  washed 
my  sins  away."  It  was  a  band  of  little  boys  whom  Shin 
had  been  training,  and  who  had  come  out  to  meet  us.  We 
spent  two  or  three  days  in  this  place,  women  and  men 
crowding  into  the  little  building  to  every  meeting.  Mr. 
Underwood  baptized  thirty-eight  people,  a  young  couple 
were  married,  one  hundred  and  thirteen  catechumens  were 
received,  and  some  babies  baptized. 

Speaking  of  babies  reminds  me  of  a  sad  little  incident 
which  occurred  while  I  was  holding  the  first  meeting  there 
with  the  women.  Hoping  to  win  their  interest,  knowing 
how  many  little  dead  babies  are  carried  away  from  Korean 
homes,  I  told  them  of  the  Saviour's  love  for  little  ones, 
that  he  held  them  in  his  arms  and  caressed  them  when  on 
earth,  and  had  said  that  the  spirits  of  these  little  ones  do 
always  behold  the  face  of  the  Father ;  so  that  would  they 
only  believe  and  give  their  hearts  to  him,  they  should  see 
their  little  ones  again  in  heaven. 

A  great  sob  broke  from  one  of  the  women  who  com- 
menced passionately  weeping.  As  soon  as  she  could 
speak,  she  told  me,  her  voice  broken  with  violent  emotion, 
that  she  had  been  a  sorceress,  and  in  a  moment  of  frenzy 
had  dashed  her  only  child,  a  baby,  to  the  floor  and  killed 
it.  She,  a  mother,  had  killed  her  child,  and  could  she  ever 
be  happy  again,  could  God  forgive  such  as  she,  could  she 
ever  be  permitted  to  see  her  murdered  child  again  ?  She 
feared  she  was  too  wicked.  All  of  us  wept  with  her,  and 


DOWN  THE  RIVER   IN   A   KOREAN  JUNK       187 

she  was  told  of  the  great  mercy  and  pardoning  love  of 
God,  and  found  peace  in  Christ. 

Mr.  Underwood  also  visited  Sam  Oui,  the  village  which 
had  learned  of  Christ  through  the  example  of  Haing  Ju, 
and  baptized  a  handful  of  Christians  there,  enrolling  a 
number  of  catechumens.  When  people  do  not  seem  quite 
ripe  for  baptism,  yet  have  put  away  idolatry,  keeping  the 
Sabbath,  putting  away  concubines,  and  living  a  life  of  ap- 
parent conformity  with  the  ten  commandments,  they  are 
enrolled  in  this  class  of  catechumens.  While  I  was  en- 
gaged during  the  morning  with  the  women,  the  "amah" 
was  charged  to  take  care  of  our  little  boy,  but  when  the 
service  was  over,  as  he  was  nowhere  to  be  seen,  we  started 
out  to  find  him.  As  we  walked  down  the  lane  we  saw 
coming  toward  us  a  row  of  some  seven  or  eight  boys  of  his 
age  (the  dirtiest  in  the  town,  I  am  sure),  he  in  the  center, 
an  arm  around  one  on  either  side,  all  chatting  and  laugh- 
ing together  in  the  merriest  mood  possible.  How  could 
we  help  laughing,  how  help  being  half  pleased,  even  while 
horrified  at  what  such  contact  might  portend,  how  many 
varieties  of  microbes,  not  to  mention  other  things. 

From  Haing  Ju  we  took  a  Korean  junk  down  the  river 
to  Pai  Chun.  We  went  on  board  at  night,  and  as  it  was 
bitterly  cold,  we  were  told  we  must  go  down  under  the 
deck,  as  there  was  absolutely  no  sheltered  place  above, 
where  we  could  sleep.  The  hole  to  which  we  were  rele- 
gated was  not  attractive.  There  were  odors  of  fish  ages 
old,  the  space  was  not  high  enough  even  to  sit  upright  in, 
and  barely  wide  enough  for  Mr.  Underwood,  our  child, 
our  "amah"  and  myself  to  lie  packed  side  by  side  (no 
turning  or  moving  about)  in  the  stern. 

A  lantern  glimmered  at  the  other  end,  it  looked  very  far. 
There  was  water  there,  and  perhaps  rats,  and  certainly 
great  water  beetles  and  cockroaches,  and  sometimes,  hours 


:88      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

and  hours  after  we  had  been  packed  in  that  gruesome 
place,  a  boatman  came  and  crawled  over  us,  and  dipped 
out  buckets  of  water.  Men  were  tramping  back  and  forth 
over  our  heads  all  night.  I  felt  sure  that  some  of  them 
would  come  through,  and  there  seemed  to  be  enough 
racket  to  indicate  a  storm  at  sea,  a  collision  or  a  fire — at 
times  I  was  almost  convinced  it  was  all  three.  If  it  had 
been,  we  certainly  could  never  have  made  our  escape  from 
the  trap  in  which  we  were  wedged  like  sardines.  How- 
ever, as  we  were  merely  sailing  down  a  broad,  but  not  very 
deep  river,  and  could  easily  have  neared  the  shore  before 
sinking  in  most  circumstances,  things  were  not  so  bad 
as  they  seemed,  and  next  morning  when  we  emerged  into 
the  bright  sunlight  what  had  been  a  night  fraught  with 
awful  probabilities  was  now  simply  an  amusing  epi- 
sode. 

All  day  Sunday  we  sat  on  the  deck  in  the  sun,  singing 
and  enjoying  the  brilliant  atmosphere.  From  Pai  Chun  we 
proceeded  on  foot  or  in  chairs  to  Hai  Ju,  and  thence  to 
Sorai,  where  a  theological  leader's  class  was  waiting  for 
Mr.  Underwood.  Everywhere  the  warm-hearted  welcome 
which  awaited  us  was  a  delightful  surprise  to  me.  People, 
even  women  and  children,  came  out  miles  to  meet  us,  and 
followed  us  in  crowds  when  we  left,  as  if  they  could  not 
bear  to  let  us  go. 

There  were  only  a  few  beginnings  of  work  in  Hai  Ju 
at  that  time.  It  is  the  capital  of  the  province  and  rather 
a  demoralized  town,  even  in  a  heathen  country,  full  of 
hangers-on  of  government  officials,  people  accustomed 
to  getting  a  living  out  of  the  people  through  fraud,  brib- 
ery, oppression,  "squeezing,"  and  all  sorts  of  political 
dirty  work  and  corruption;  evil  men  and  still  more  evil 
women  spreading  the  cancerous  disease  through  the  little 
town,  until  every  one  appears  to  be  steeped  in  "the  lust  of 


• 


KOREAN    WOMEN    AT    WORK.       PAGE 


EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIAN  LIVING  189 

the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,"  and 
worshipers  of  the  god  of  this  world. 

As  a  special  day  had  been  set  for  the  beginning  of  the 
class  in  Sorai,  and  people  were  coming  from  all  direc- 
tions to  meet  us  there,  we  hastened  on  to  be  in  time. 
Walking  along  the  main  road  thither,  Mr.  Underwood 
overtook  a  young  farmer,  with  whom  he  opened  conver- 
sation in  a  friendly  way,  and  asked  if  he  had  heard  of  the 
Jesus  religion.  "Yayso  Kyo?"  "Oh,  yes,"  was  the  reply, 
"I  have  heard  much  of  it,  many  people  in  this  province  do 
that  doctrine,  it  is  very  good."  "Do  you  believe  also?" 
said  my  husband.  "Oh,  no,  I  cannot  be  a  believer,"  re- 
plied the  man.  "These  Christians  spend  their  time  and 
money  doing  good  to  others,  I  must  do  for  myself,  I  can- 
not afford  to  practise  this  doctrine."  This  was  uninten- 
tional witness  borne  to  the  fair  fruit  of  Christianity  in  the 
man's  believing  friends  and  neighbors.  A  little  further 
on,  as  my  chair  was  set  down  to  rest  the  coolies,  an  old 
woman  ran  out  of  a  neighboring  shanty  to  kngung  the 
foreigner.  I  told  her  who  I  was  and  why  I  had  come, 
and  asked  if  she  knew  of  this  doctrine.  "Oh,  yes,  it  was 
good,  very  good."  "Then  why  do  you  not  believe?" 
"Oh,  I  sell  liquor,  that  is  my  business.  I  cannot  do  that 
and  be  a  Christian."  Another  involuntary  testimony  to 
the  lives  of  the  Christians  of  Whang  Hai,  and  to  the 
sincerity  of  those  who  had  been  taught  that  the  way 
must  be  made  straight  and  clean  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord. 

When  we  arrived  at  Sorai  I  found  the  Christian  women 
all  gathered  to  meet  me  in  the  house  of  one  whom  I  had 
known  before  in  Seoul.  They  offered  refreshments  of 
their  best,  persimmons,  pears,  chestnuts  and  eggs,  and  ex- 
pressed their  pleasure  over  our  coming  in  the  most  cor- 
dial and  heart-warming  way.  Most  of  them  I  had  never 


igo      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

seen  before,  but  we  seemed  to  love  each  other  at  first  sight, 
for  the  bond  in  Christ  is  a  very  strong  one. 

Mr.  Kim  Yun  O,  the  wealthy  man  of  the  village,  one 
who  had  been  a  great  sinner  but  was  now  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  earnest  of  the  leaders,  had  invited  us  to 
occupy  his  new  sarang  or  guest  room.  It  was  quite  a 
commodious  sunny  room,  and  we  were  pleased  to  find  it 
was  quite  new,  so  we  need  fear  few  of  our  little  enemies. 

While  Mr.  Underwood  was  holding  his  classes  with  the 
men  in  the  church  all  day,  patients  of  all  kinds  came  to 
me  in  the  mornings  for  several  hours.  Then  I  taught  the 
girls  and  boys  how  to  sing  the  hymns,  for  they  had  never 
known  what  it  means  to  sing,  and  though  they  made  a  joy- 
ful noise  to  the  Lord,  it  was  not  joyful  to  the  fleshly  ear 
at  all,  but  a  most  awful  combination  of  discords,  flats  and 
sharps,  mixed  up  in  the  most  hopeless  confusion,  whole 
bunches  of  keys  on  one  string,  meanings,  groanings, 
sounds  of  woe  as  if  all  the  contents  of  the  pit  had  come 
forth  before  the  time,  or  all  the  evil  spirits  exorcised  from 
the  village  had  returned  to  spoil  their  praise. 

The  young  people  were  the  most  hopeful  to  begin  with, 
and  were  soon  doing  remarkably  well.  Every  afternoon 
we  women  had  a  Bible  class  together.  Most  of  those  who 
came  were  baptized  Christians  or  catechumens,  though 
some  unbelievers  were  always  present.  About  twenty-five 
crowded  into  Mr.  Kim's  anpang  each  day.  It  is  delightful 
to  be  allowed  to  teach  such  women,  so  hungry  for  truth, 
so  eager  to  learn,  so  full  of  humble  loving  interest  in  every 
word,  with  such  a  spirit  of  childlike  faith. 

Mrs.  Kim,  in  whose  house  we  were  staying,  was  a  busy 
woman,  and  her  life  was  not  an  easy  one.  She  was  small 
and  frail,  with  two  children,  her  husband  and  old  mother 
to  work  for,  with  one  servant  to  help.  The  preparation  of 
food  for  her  own  family  and  many  Korean  guests  (for  a 


A  KOREAN   WOMAN'S   WORK  191 

Korean  gentleman's  guest  house  is  always  well  filled  at 
meal  time)  was  in  itself  no  light  matter.  The  rice  comes 
in  very  rough,  only  partly  husked,  and  must  be  pounded  a 
long  while  in  a  great  wooden  vessel,  with  a  heavy  club, 
larger  at  either  end,  which  is  almost  all  that  a  woman  can 
lift  (a  fine  exercise  for  athletic  women's  clubs).  Water 
is  usually  brought  in  on  the  head  from  quite  a  distance, 
brass  bowls  and  spoons  kept  bright,  garments  must  be 
washed  and  smoothed,  with  what  pains  I  have  already  de- 
scribed, animals  cared  for.  fires  made. 

But  the  country  women  work  in  the  fields,  too,  helping 
to  sow  the  cotton,  tobacco,  rice  and  barley.  When  the  cot- 
ton is  ripe  they  pick  and  prepare  it,  and  only  after  much 
toil  is  it  ready  for  use.  Then  they  weave  their  own  cloth 
and  make  up  their  own  garments,  in  the 'dark  little  rooms 
in  which  the  women  live  and  work.  They  prepare  and  dry 
certain  vegetables  for  winter's  use,  and  with  much  labor, 
themselves  press  out  the  castor  oil  which  they  use  in  their 
tiny  lamps.  In  the  fall  they  make  their  kimchi  for  the 
whole  year. 

Timely  hints  dropped  now  and  then,  and  the  example 
of  a  Christian  husband's  care  for  his  wife,  have  done 
wonders  among  the  native  Christian  homes,  and  much 
lightened  the  hard  lot  of  the  women.  Of  course  we  did 
our  own  cooking  in  all  these  little  villages,  our  personal 
entertainment  adding  nothing  to  the  work  of  the  poor 
house  wife.  The  people  at  Sorai  are  extremely  generous 
and  were  constantly  bringing  us  presents  of  chickens, 
eggs,  persimmons,  etc.  We  were  much  embarrassed  by  all 
this  bounty,  for  we  knew  the  people  were  poor  and  that 
such  gifts  cost  a  large  sacrifice  on  their  part. 

When  one's  wages  are  not  more  than  ten  cents  a  day  a 
chicken  means  quite  a  good  deal  of  money.  Yet  we  could 
not  refuse  their  offerings,  for  when  we  tried  to  do  so  they 


192      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

felt  so  hurt  we  found  it  was  impossible.  The  people  al- 
ready at  that  time  were  paying  the  running  expenses  of  a 
Christian  day  school,  which  they  had  endowed,  by  setting 
apart  the  income  from  certain  fields  for  this  purpose,  and 
if  the  crop  was  poor  and  the  income  insufficient,  they 
made  it  up  to  the  required  amount. 

While  here  in  Sorai  we  had  a  new  and  rather  unpleasant 
experience  with  the  working  of  the  Korean  kang,  which 
we  thought  we  knew  well.  In  the  midst  of  winter  the 
wind  suddenly  turned  in  the  wrong  direction  for  our  fires. 
The  fire  being  built  at  one  side  of  the  house  and  the  chim- 
ney opening  at  the  other,  we  made  the  very  chilling  dis- 
covery, that  when  the  wind  blows  into  the  smoke  vent  a 
fire  cannot  be  coaxed  to  light.  Our  room  was  bitterly 
cold,  and  it  is  surprising  how  a  floor,  'which  can  become 
intolerably  hot,  can  also  under  the  proper  circumstances 
become  so  cold  and  damp.  I  was  obliged  to  wrap  my 
rheumatic  frame  in  furs  and  rugs,  while  they  brought  in  a 
great  bowl  or  wharrow  full  of  glowing  charcoal  fire,  with 
which  I  was  comparatively  unacquainted.  However,  that 
night  the  room  began  dancing  about  in  the  giddiest  kind 
of  way,  all  grew  dark — and  my  'husband  spent  several 
hours  with  me  in  the  cold  night  air  outside  our  room,  in 
the  effort  to  ward  off  successive  fainting  attacks.  When 
our  child,  too,  complained  of  headache  and  giddiness,  we 
no  longer  questioned  the  cause,  and  henceforth  preferred 
pure  cold  air  to  carbon  dioxide. 

It  was  interesting  in  the  cold,  sleety,  snowy  weather  to 
see  how  the  Christians  managed  to  attend  church,  even 
from  long  distances.  The  women  would  fold  up  their 
clean  skirts  and  put  them  with  their  shoes  and  stockings 
on  their  heads,  roll  up  their  pajies  or  divided  skirts  quite 
high  out  of  the  reach  of  wet,  and  with  a  thin  cotton  apron, 
or  no  outer  wrap  at  all  over  their  heads  and  shoulders, 


SCHOOL    BOYS.       8 
GIRLS    SEWING    AND    WRITING    WITH    NATIVE    TEACHER.        PAGE 


APPLICANTS   FOR  BAPTISM  193 

trudge  miles  through  snow  and  mud,  facing  a  cutting 
wind.  Quite  a  number  of  people  were  examined  for  bap- 
tism while  we  were  there.  One  old  woman,  whose  case 
seemed  rather  doubtful  on  account  of  her  ignorance,  was 
asked  what  was  her  dearest  wish.  "That  I  may  be  with 
Jesus  always"  was  the  reply.  ''And  how  do  you  know  you 
will  always  be  with  him?"  "Because  I  am  holding  close 
to  him  now,  and  will  hold  close  all  the  way."  She  had 
at  least  learned  that  Jesus  supplies  the  soul's  whole  need/ 
that  to  be  in  his  felt  presence  is  heaven,  and  that  to  hold 
and  be  held  by  him  is  the  only  way  to  reach  and  be  kept 
there.  Surely  she  had  the  end  and  aim  of  all  theology  in 
a  nutshell. 

I  will  copy  a  few  notes  from  my  diary  on  the  testimony 
given  by  some  of  the  people  who  applied  for  baptism  at 
this  time. 

No.  15,  Mrs.  Kim:  Said  her  relatives  and  friends  had 
all  been  trying  to  induce  her  to  believe,  but  her  heart  had 
grown  harder  and  harder,  and  she  had  determined  she 
would  not  be  a  Christian ;  but  suddenly  one  night  she  saw 
herself  with  awful  clearness,  a  great  sinner,  had  that  mo- 
ment yielded  her  heart,  almost  involuntarily  (so  irresistible 
was  the  impulse),  to  Christ,  and  from  that  time  had  had 
perfect  peace  and  blessedness.  Asked  if  she  had  spoken 
on  this  subject  to  unbelievers,  replied  in  affirmative.  Has 
now  been  trusting  Christ  a  year  and  three  months.  This 
woman  has  done  since  then  much  devoted  voluntary  ser- 
vice for  her  Master. 

Another :  At  a  time  when  those  who  wished  for  prayer 
were  asked  to  raise  their  hands,  she  says  she  raised  hers, 
and  at  that  moment  felt  as  it  were  a  knife  through  her 
heart.  From  that  time  she  has  felt  that  she  belonged  to 
Christ,  and  since  then  her  mind  has  been  at  peace.  She 
prays  regularly  three  times  a  day,  but  is  praying  all  the 


194      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

time  in  her  heart.  While  she  is  praying  she  never  falls 
into  sin,  but  if  through  some  inadvertence  and  lack  of 
prayer  she  sinsz  she  asks  God  to  pardon,  knowing  that  he 
will. 

Another,  No.  5:  "Why  do  you  believe?"  "Because 
Jesus  forgave  me  and  died  for  me."  "How  do  you  know 
you  are  forgiven?"  "Because  the  Bible  says  he  will  for- 
give all  that  come  to  him."  Said  he  used  to  have  a  wicked 
heart  and  worshiped  devils,  but  now  his  heart  and  mind 
were  quite  changed.  Asked  what  repentance  is,  replied 
that  it  "was  mending  one's  conduct  and  eating  a  new 
mind."  Asked  if  he  had  told  the  good  news  to  others,  said 
he  had,  but  no  one  in  his  neighborhood  yet  believes.  He 
cannot  read,  and  asked  who  Jesus  is,  says  he  is  God's  only 
son.  Asked  why  he  died  for  us,  says  he  doesn't  know. 
"Do  your  neighbors  know  that  you  do  not  sacrifice  any 
more  ?"  "Yes."  "Do  you  know  you  cannot  have  a  concu- 
bine?" "Yes."  Have  you  suffered  anything  for  Christ  ?" 
"They  abuse  me  behind  my  back."  (He  was  the  richest 
and  chief  man  of  his  district.)  "If  you  have  to  suffer 
severely  what  will  you  do?"  "I  will  bear  it,  God  will  help 
me."  He  pays  the  expenses  of  well-taught  Christians  to  go 
to  his  home  and  preach  to  his  neighbors.  He  comes  a  long 
distance  to  Sorai  to  church  and  seems  anxious  about  his 
neighbors'  souls.  He  came  to  the  class  bringing  his  own 
rice. 

No.  6 :  Says  he  trusts  Jesus  because  he  knows  he  has 
forgiven  his  sins.  Knows  they  are  forgiven  because  his 
heart  is  changed,  his  old  covetousness  is  all  gone,  it  is 
now  easy  to  do  what  Jesus  commands.  "Do  you  ever 
forget  Jesus  ?"  "How  could  I  forget  him  ?  How  could  I 
forget  my  Lord  ?" 

Another :  Says  that  since  spring,  when  Christ  came  into 
her  heart,  all  has  been  at  peace.  Asked,  "Who  is  Jesus?" 


A    CONVERTED    TONGHAtf  195 

Replies,  "God's  only  son."  "What  is  he  to  you  ?"  "We  are 
brethren  since  we  have  one  Father."  "How  is  God  your 
Father?"  "All  believers  are  now  his  children."  "Are 
your  sins  forgiven  ?"  "Entirely  forgiven."  "How  do  you 
know  it?"  "My  mind  is  now  at  peace.  I  am  entirely 
happy."  "Are  you  not  sad  since  your  husband  died?" 
"Since  after  death  we  shall  all  live  again  at  God's  right 
hand  I  feel  no  anxiety."  "What  if  difficulties  should 
arise?"  "/  don't  know  about  the  future,  but  Go'd  takes 
care  of  me  now,  and  I  think  he  will  continue  to  do  so.  I'll 
tell  Jesus  and  ask  his  help."  "Do  you  commit  sins  now  ?" 
"On  account  of  the  flesh  I  cannot  escape  from  sin,  I  cannot 
say  I  do  no  sin."  Her  father-in-law  is  not  a  believer,  but 
though  she  lives  in  his  house  she  keeps  the  Sabbath  and 
attends  worship  regularly. 

No.  37  was  a  Tonghak,  rebel  and  robber.  Has  be- 
lieved nearly  two  years.  "Who  is  Jesus  ?"  "He  is  God's 
son."  "What  has  he  done  for  us  ?"  "He  died  on  the  cross, 
and  through  his  precious  blood  my  sins  are  forgiven." 
"Do  you  know  this  ?"  "I  know  it."  "How  do  you  know 
it  ?"  "I  cannot  read  the  Bible,  but  as  I  was  a  criminal,  and 
Jesus  has  made  me  live,  I  know  I  am  forgiven."  "Where 
is  Jesus?"  "At  God's  right  hand."  "Anywhere  else?" 
"There  is  no  place  where  he  is  not."  "What  is  Jesus  doing 
for  us?"  "I  don't  know,  I  only  know  I  am  saved." 
"Have  you  told  others  about  Jesus?"  "I  am  always  say- 
ing, Here  was  I  a  criminal,  and  Jesus  forgave  me,  and 
saved  me  from  punishment,  and  gave  me  peace  of  mind, 
how  can  I  help  but  believe." 

This  man  comes  ten  miles  to  church  in  all  weather. 
Even  when  twenty  miles  away  at  work,  he  would  come  in 
late  Saturday  night  to  be  at  church,  stay  all  day,  without 
his  food,  and  go  back  at  night  over  a  high  mountain  pass. 
He  was  one  of  two  rebels,  who  came  to  the  leader  and  said 


lg6      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

they  wanted  to  be  followers  of  Christ  and  be  baptized, 
The  leader  said  that  if  they  were  sincere  Christians  they 
must  make  restitution  by  giving  themselves  up  to  justice. 
One  of  the  two  then  went  to  the  Romanists,  and  is  now 
one  of  the  most  notorious  of  the  gang  of  robbers  and  des- 
perados under  the  lead  of  Father  Wilhelm.  The  other, 
this  applicant,  gave  himself  up,  was  thrown  into  jail  and 
condemned  to  death.  While  in  jail  he  astounded  the 
jailers  and  prisoners  by  continually  singing  hymns  of  joy 
and  praise.  The  prisoners  declared  he  was  mad,  as  no  one 
could  sing  like  that  in  such  a  case.  While  he  was  in  jail 
the  king  escaped  to  the  Russian  legation,  all  prisoners 
were  set  free  and  he  was  released.  He  has  been  a  happy, 
consistent  Christian  ever  since. 

Another  is  a  young  man  of  nineteen,  has  only  lately 
begun  to  trust  in  Christ.  His  father  is  a  believer,  his 
mother  and  wife  are  not.  Baptism,  he  says,  is  a  sign  of 
faith  in  Christ.  He  thinks  it  would  never  do  not  to  be 
baptized,  but  insists  he  is  saved  now.  Says  he  knows  and 
feels  it  in  his  heart.  He  has  destroyed  all  idols,  and  keeps 
the  Sabbath.  He  goes  over  the  mountain  three  miles  to 
church  and  allows  no  laborers  to  work  for  him  on  Sunday, 
though  he  is  obliged  to  pay  them  for  the  day's  work  as 
though  they  had.  He  comes  at  his  own  expense  to  attend 
the  class. 

The  above  are  given  merely  as  a  few  specimens  of  the 
kind  of  questions  and  replies  commonly  heard  at  these  ex- 
aminations. Only  those  whose  changed  lives  were  wit- 
nessed to  by  leading  Christians  who  know  them  were  bap- 
tized. After  a  delightful  stay  with  these  simple-hearted 
Christians,  where  the  world  and  all  its  evils  seemed'far  re- 
moved, and  God  very  near,  we  were  obliged  at  the  close  of 
the  class  to  start  back  to  the  capital.  Our  three  tempo- 
rarily hired  coolies  had  forsaken  us,  disliking  to  wait  so 


A    NIGHT   OF   ANXIETY  197 

long  (about  three  weeks)  without  work,  and  it  was  an  im- 
possibility to  replace  them  in  that  neighborhood,  where 
nobody  ever  rides  in  a  chair. 

So  we  had  to  hire  an  ox-cart  or  talgoogy,  the  most 
primitive  of  all  possible  wheeled  conveyances,  and  in  it, 
with  our  loads  tucked  in  with  all  our  mattresses,  quilts, 
rugs  and  pillows,  was  placed  our  little  treasure,  our  only 
child,  with  the  woman  servant. 

With  great  difficulty  a  man  was  found  who  consented 
to  help  my  own  servant  carry  my  chair.  But  soon  an  un- 
looked-for difficulty  arose.  I  found  the  ox-cart  had  gone 
by  a  different  road  from  that  on  which  I  had  come  in  my 
chair,  for  the  former  could  not  cross  the  narrow  bridges 
(mere  footpaths  for  one)  over  the  rivers,  but  must  take 
the  fords,  far  too  long  a  distance  for  the  chair  coolies. 
Nor  could  the  cart  take  the  narrow  paths  over  precipitous 
passes,  which  the  chair  must  follow  to  shorten  the  road 
for  the  carriers.  I  was  assured  that  all  would  be  well,  the 
helpers  and  Christians  were  with  the  child,  and  was  forced 
to  submit  to  what  could  not  now  be  helped.  Mr.  Under- 
wood, after  seeing  me  well  started,  paced  at  a  flying  rate 
across  to  the  other  road  to  see  that  all  was  well  with  the 
boy,  and  then  back  again  to  the  wife. 

At  about  five  o'clock  we  reached  a  place  where  the 
two  roads  meet,  but  no  signs  of  the  talgoogy.  It  was  fast 
growing  dark,  a  mountain  pass  lay  yet  before  us,  the  road 
was  wild  and  lonely,  we  wished  our  little  one  was  with  us. 
At  length  we  went  on  to  the  village  just  beyond  the  pass 
and  waited.  Time  passed,  but  no  tidings  of  the  cart  and 
its  precious  contents.  Darkness  fell,  the  cold  was  bitter. 
Koreans  were  sent  out  with  lanterns  to  light  the  way  for 
the  belated,  or  render  any  needed  help.  Still  no  word. 
At  length  Mr.  Underwood  himself,  unable  to  wait  longer, 
jvent  out  to  look  for  the  party.  And  now  with  them  both 


ig8      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

in  the  lonely  mountain,  and  night  upon  us,  I  had  double 
need  to  trust  in  God.  One  always  knows  that  all  will  be 
well,  will  be  for  the  best,  but  as  one  cannot  see  whether 
that  best  means  God's  rod  or  his  staff,  the  heart  will  flut- 
ter in  dread  of  the  pain.  Just  to  wait  without  fear  upon 
him,  takes  a  calm,  strong  soul,  and  a  full  measure  of 
grace. 

At  last,  thank  God,  they  both  came  back  quite  un- 
harmed, only  hungry  and  cold,  but  the  thought  of  tigers, 
leopards  and  robbers,  that  might  have  met  them,  only 
made  me  realize  more  fully  the  mercy  which  brought  them 
safe  to  my  arms. 

That  night  we  slept  in  a  small  Korean  inn  quite  like  all 
the  rest,  only  a  little  smaller  and  dirtier  than  most,  with 
domestic  animals  and  fowls  of  all  sorts  quartered  round 
us,  the  paper  door  of  our  room  only  separating  between 
them  and  us.  Suddenly,  about  two  or  three  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  were  startled  out  of  our  sleep  by  the  most  terrific 
roaring,  and  the  sounds  of  a  general  panic  in  the  inn ;  the 
excited  shouts  of  men,  women  shrieking,  and  such  a 
chorus  of  barking,  yelping,  cackling,  squealing  as  cannot 
be  described.  But  the  awful  roaring,  and  a  stamping  and 
hustling  distinguishable  above  all,  made  it  seem  probable 
that  one  or  more  wild  animals  of  some  sort  had  invaded 
the  hostel.  Mr.  Underwood  hastily  extinguished  our  light, 
which  shining  through  our  door,  might  attract  notice,  and 
went  out  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  uproar.  He  soon 
came  back,  saying  that  a  couple  of  oxen,  usually  so  meek 
and  tractable,  had  been  fighting,  had  pulled  themselves 
loose  from  their  stalls,  and  had  now  escaped,  one  chasing 
the  other  out  of  the  inn.  They  are  enormous  creatures,  at 
times  like  this  as  dangerous  as  any  wild  beast,  and  it  was 
remarkable  that  no  one  in  the  inn  was  seriously  hurt,  as 
they  could  hardly  have  escaped  being,  had  the  oxen  re- 


KOREAN     STREET.       PAGE     IS 
HORSES    IN    AN    INN    YARD.        PAGE     K 


TREATING    CROUP   UNDER    DIFFICULTIES      199 

mained  fighting  in  the  cramped  confines  of    that  little 
place. 

Nothing  worthy  of  note  occurred  during  the  remainder 
of  our  return  trip,  except  one  night,  when  camped  in  the 
tiniest  and  most  comfortless  little  room,  we  were  again 
wakened  by  an  awful  roaring.  The  sort  of  roar  that  every 
mother  hears  with  a  quaking  heart,  and  knows  right  well 
what  it  imports.  She  knows  it  comes  from  a  wild  beast 
in  her  child's  throat,  and  jumps  to  the  rescue.  Croup  in  a 
hut  with  paper  doors  and  windows  full  of  cracks  and 
holes,  where  the  wind  steals  in  on  all  sides,  many  miles 
from  home,  is  not  too  easily  defied.  But  we  soon  had  a 
wharrow  fire  and  hot  water,  a  croupy  child's  mother  al- 
ways has  ipecac  and  flannels  close  at  hand,  and  while  we 
changed  hot  applications  for  an  hour  or  so,  we  were 
forced  to  draw  on  our  benumbed  inventive  faculties  for 
novel  stories  to  interest  the  half -suffocated  child.  The 
following  day  we  were  obliged  to  continue  our  journey, 
for  exposure  and  discomfort  there  exceeded  what  must  be 
met  on  the  road,  but  the  child,  usually  slow  in  rallying 
from  those  attacks,  on  this  occasion  made  an  especially 
quick  and  favorable  recovery. 

In  April  of  this  year,  1896,  Dr.  J.  McLeavy  Brown,  of 
the  English  Custom's  Service,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
nation's  finance  by  a  royal  decree,  a  post  which  he  con- 
tinued to  fill  for  a  long  time  to  the  benefit  of  all  con- 
cerned, except  the  squeezing  officials,  who,  now  that  their 
opportunities  in  that  line  were  curtailed,  proceeded  to 
squeal  lustily  instead. 

In  the  summer  of  1896,  Miss  Jacobson,  an  enthusiastic 
young  missionary  nurse,  who  had  learned  the  language 
with  wonderful  quickness,  and  won  the  hearts  of  Koreans 
on  all  sides,  was  very  ill  with  dysentery  for  several  weeks. 
She  recovered  apparently  and  returned  to  her  work,  but 


200      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

was  soon  attacked  by  violent  fever,  which  refused  to  yield 
to  the  usual  remedies,  until  at  length  the  existence  of  a 
local  organic  disease  was  developed,  which  in  spite  of 
every  effort  carried  our  dear  sister  away.  But  her  death- 
bed was  a  place  of  rejoicing  rather  than  mourning.  More 
than  one  exclaimed  it  was  good  to  be  there.  Bitterly  as 
we  knew  we  should  feel  the  loss  of  so  helpful  and  sympa- 
thetic a  sister  later,  we  could  but  enter  into  her  joy  at  that 
hour.  Her  bedroom  seemed  like  the  ante-room  to  the 
throne-room  itself.  Her  face  was  wreathed  in  smiles,  and 
a  look  of  unearthly  glory  lay  upon  it.  Her  words  were  all 
of  joy  and  hope,  and  full  of  the  rapture  the  realized  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord  only  can  give. 

We  felt  we  had  no  right  to  make  place  for  selfish 
mourning  there,  she  was  so  manifestly  happy,  and  to  de- 
part was  so  far,  far  better.  When  her  remains  were  taken 
to  the  cemetery,  now  becoming  rich  with  much  precious 
dust,  her  casket  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the  native 
Christians,  who  sang  joyful  songs  of  the  better  land  all 
the  way.  It  was  like  the  return  of  a  conqueror,  and  the 
country  people,  as  they  saw  and  heard,  asked  what  kind  of 
death  or  funeral  was  this,  all  triumph  and  joy?  Where 
were  the  signs  and  sounds  of  despair  that  follow  a  heathen 
corpse  ? 

To  carry  a  dead  body  is  looked  upon  as  very  degrading. 
So  the  fact  that  the  native  Christians  insisted  on  doing 
this,  and  would  not  allow  hired  bearers  to  touch  the  dear 
form,  showed  how  they  all  loved  and  honored  Miss  Jacob- 
son  ;  and  I  have  told  it  to  show  the  kind  of  feeling  which 
exists  between  the  people  and  their  foreign  teachers,  as 
well  as  to  lay  a  little  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  noble  and 
devoted  fellow-worker. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

Our  Mission  to  Japan — Spies — One  Korean  Summer — The 
Queen's  Funeral — The  Procession — The  Burial  by  Star- 
light— The  Independents — The  Pusaings — The  Independents 
Crushed. 

IN  the  following  spring  Mr.  Underwood  was  asked  to 
go  to  Japan,  with  instructions  to  assist  his  highness,  the 
second  prince,  to  leave  for  America. 

It  was  thought  best  that  he  should  there,  under  Chris- 
tian tutors,  prepare  for  college,  or  a  military  training,  and 
my  husband,  realizing  of  what  immense  importance  this 
plan  well  carried  out  might  be  to  Korea  in  the  future, 
gladly  consented  to  accept  the  mission.  All  arrangements 
were  made  by  the  government  in  Seoul,  and  Mr.  Under- 
wood was  instructed  exactly  as  to  the  wishes  of  his 
majesty.  To  our  combined  amusement  and  indignation, 
we  soon  discovered  we  were  followed  everywhere  by  spies 
from  the  day  we  left  home.  Mr.  Underwood's  letters  to 
gentlemen  in  Tokyo,  although  mailed  with  care  and 
secrecy,  were  read  by  others  before  they  reached  the  hands 
of  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  We  were 
shadowed  everywhere,  and  even  had  the  creepy  pleasure 
of  knowing  that  a  detective  slept  on  the  landing  just  below 
our  room. 

Thus  for  the  second  time  in  our  lives  were  we  honored 
by  being  made  the  special  objects  of  espial,  connected  in 
the  respectable  mind  with  criminal  courts,  jails  and  all 
sorts  of  ill  odors  and  combinations  of  the  unutterable. 


202      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

However,  as  we  had  nothing  on  our  consciences,  I  believe 
we  rather  enjoyed  our  detectives,  aside  from  a  slight  in- 
dignant sense  of  insult.  We  certainly  took  a  mischievous 
pleasure  in  the  hunt.  There  were  undoubtedly  those  who 
considered  it  to  their  interest  to  keep  the  prince  in  Japan, 
but  when  the  king's  commands  were  fully  understood,  no 
further  difficulty  was  made,  and  the  long-desired  end  was 
gained,  as  far  as  a  departure  for  America  was  concerned, 
but  as  through  influence  beyond  our  control,  and  without 
our  knowledge  till  later,  a  Romanist  interpreter  was  sent 
with  him,  the  plans  and  hopes  for  his  royal  highness  in 
America  were  destined  to  disappointment. 

In  the  following  summer  sickness  entered  our  home,  a 
debilitating  fever  which  would  not  yield  to  treatment  kept 
my  husband  week  after  week  confined  to  his  bed.  His 
strength  of  course  steadily  failed,  he  became  extremely 
emaciated  and  unable  to  retain  nourishment  in  any  form. 
We  were  at  the  river  Han,  in  a  house  on  a  bluff,  where  we 
usually  spend  the  hot  and  rainy  season ;  but  it  was  several 
miles  distant  from  the  city,  advisers  and  remedies.  It  was 
lonely  work,  not  knowing  what  turn  the  disease  might 
take,  with  friends  and  helpers  so  far  away. 

At  length,  one  night  my  trials  seemed  to  reach  a  climax. 
The  rain  poured  down,  more  like  a  foe  with  iron  blows 
besieging  a  fort  than  water  from  the  clouds.  The  wind 
blew  with  almost  hurricane  fury  and  the  lightning  was 
constantly  accompanied  by  terrific  claps  of  thunder.  My 
husband  was  too  ill  to  notice  and  in  a  heavy  stupor.  Soon, 
however,  the  poor  thatched  roof  began  leaking  like  a  sieve, 
while  water  flowed  in  around  the  window  and  door  case- 
ments. 

The  invalid  lay  in  a  heavy  bed,  extremely  difficult  at  any 
time  to  move,  still  more  so  with  his  weight  and  the  neces- 
sity of  moving  it  as  gently  as  possible.  Our  cousin,  a  lady 


STRUGGLING    WITH    SICKNESS  203 

of  no  great  size  or  strength,  and  I  managed  by  exerting  all 
our  combined  force  to  shove  the  lumbering  piece  of  furni- 
ture to  a  place  where  water  did  not  drip  on  it  and  the  in- 
valid ;  and  then  ran  to  find  pieces  of  sacking,  bath  towels, 
sheets,  waterproofs,  etc.,  to  soak  up  the  flood  that  was 
constantly  pouring  in  everywhere  and  dripping  through 
from  the  second  floor  to  the  first. 

The  kitchen  was  almost  emptied  of  utensils,  which  were 
placed  under  the  waterfalls  all  over  the  house.  While 
every  now  and  then  my  husband's  bed  must  be  pushed  or 
dragged  to  a  new  place.  The  frail  house  rocked  as  if  it 
must  surely  fall  before  the  fury  of  the  storm.  It  was  one 
of  those  occasions  which  probably  every  one  experiences, 
once  or  twice  in  a  lifetime,  when  inanimate  nature  seems 
to  join  with  untoward  circumstance,  and  even  God  himself 
seems  to  have  hidden  his  face,  and  all  the  seen  and  unseen 
powers  of  the  universe  to  have  combined  against  body  and 
soul.  But  he  who  has  drunk  the  very  dregs  of  every  bit- 
terness we  ever  taste  never  forsakes  us  no  matter  how 
dark  things  look,  and  I  knew  on  that  awful  night  we  were 
not  as  desolate  as  we  seemed. 

In  the  morning  Dr.  Avison  came  out  from  the  city  and 
kindly  invited  me  to  have  Mr.  Underwood  taken  there  to 
his  home,  which  was  on  a  hill  with  plenty  of  breeze,  and 
where  I  should  have  advice  and  medicines  close  at  hand. 
So  our  sick  man,  placed  on  a  long  cane  chair  with 
poles  attached  to  each  side,  covered  with  waterproofs, 
blankets  and  umbrellas,  and  carried  by  eight  coolies,  was 
taken  back  to  Seoul. 

Not  more  than  a  week  later  our  little  one  was  stricken 
with  the  same  fever.  Both  father  and  child  were  desper- 
ately sick  for  another  fortnight,  but  both  were  spared,  and 
after  weeks  of  prostration  moved  about  like  pale  skeletons, 
whom  nobody  found  it  easy  to  recognize. 


204      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

About  this  time  a  great  deal  of  uneasiness  was  begin- 
ning to  be  felt  among  certain  classes  over  the  king's  long 
stay  in  a  foreign  legation,  especially  by  all  pro-Japanese, 
and  in  October,  1896,  the  king  was  formally  requested  by 
a  Council  of  State  to  change  his  residence.  In  the  fol- 
lowing February,  at  about  the  time  when  Mr.  Waeber  was 
leaving  the  country  and  another  Russian  representative 
coming  to  take  his  place,  the  royal  household  was  removed 
to  the  Chong  Dong  palace,  near  the  English  consulate  and 
American  legation.  Russian  officers  were  in  charge  of  all 
Korean  troops,  and  Russian  influence  predominant. 

In  October  of  1897  the  king  assumed  the  title  of  em- 
peror, and  immediately  after  the  dead  queen's  rank  was 
raised  to  that  of  empress.  In  the  following  November, 
her  imperial  highness'  funeral  took  place.  It  is  common 
among  people  of  high  rank  to  keep  the  honored  remains 
embalmed  and  sealed  for  months,  or  even  years,  until  a 
suitable  time  and  place  for  burial  has  been  pronounced  by 
soothsayers,  and  so  two  years  after  decease,  after  repeated 
consultations  with  these  costly  and  ghostly  advisers,  who 
repeatedly  changed  their  directions,  a  grave  site  was 
finally  decided  upon  and  prepared  and  a  day  set. 

Two  weeks  before  this,  daily  sacrifices  were  offered  in 
Kyeng-won  palace,  and  on  the  first  and  fifteenth  of  each 
month  since  her  death  special  sacrifices  had  been  offered. 
All  court  officials  wore  heavy  mourning  and  all  citizens 
wore  half  mourning. 

The  grounds  selected  for  the  grave  site  were  about 
three  or  four  miles  from  the  east  gate  outside  the  city, 
and  many  acres  in  extent.  Money  flowed  like  water,  and 
no  pains  or  expense  were  spared  to  make  the  service  and 
everything  connected  with  it  as  magnificent  and  stately  as 
the  queen's  rank  and  the  king's  devotion  to  her  memory 
required.  The  grave  was  prepared  of  solid  masonry  at 


THE  QUEEN'S   FUNERAL  205 

the  summit  of  a  mound  fifty  feet  high,  a  costly  temple  for 
the  temporary  shelter  of  the  remains,  where  the  last  rites 
were  to  be  performed,  was  erected  near  its  foot,  and  a 
number  of  other  buildings  were  put  up  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  court,  the  foreign  legations  and  other 
invited  guests,  for  the  funeral  was  to  be  held  at  night. 
Refreshments  and  entertainment  was  provided  for  Ko- 
reans and  foreigners,  officials,  friends,  soldiers  and  ser- 
vants to  the  number  of  several  thousands. 

A  courteous  invitation  was  sent  from  the  Foreign  Office 
to  the  legations,  inviting  the  private  residents  (foreigners) 
of  Seoul  to  share  this  hospitality.  The  casket  in  a  cata- 
falque was  carried  from  the  palace  at  eight  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  2ist  of  November,  attended  by  five  thou- 
sand soldiers,  four  thousand  lantern  bearers,  six  hundred 
and  fifty  police,  and  civil  and  military  dignitaries  of  in- 
numerable grades.  The  scene  was  one  of  extreme  and 
varied  interest.  Thousands  of  people  crowded  the  streets, 
arches  were  erected  over  the  road  at  intervals.  There 
were  numberless  scrolls  recounting  the  queen's  virtues, 
magnificent  silk  banners,  beautiful  small  chairs,  wooden 
horses  (for  use  in  the  spirit  world),  which,  with  all  the 
varied  accoutrements  of  ancient  and  modern  arms,  and  the 
immense  variety  in  the  dress  and  livery  of  court  and  other 
officials,  retainers,  menials,  chair  coolies  and  mapoos,  made 
a  scene  quite  beyond  description. 

The  emperor  and  crown  prince  did  not  follow  the  bier 
until  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  His  majesty  had  sent 
us  a  special  invitation  to  be  present  and  go  in  the  pro- 
cession, but  we  preferred  to  go  quietly  later,  as  humble 
private  mourners  for  a  loved  and  deeply  lamented  friend, 
in  a  spirit  which  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  brilliant 
procession. 

When  we  arrived  at  nearly  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening, 


206      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

we  found  the  extensive  grounds  lighted  by  red  and  yellow 
(the  royal  and  imperial  colors)  native  lanterns,  not  two 
feet  apart,  in  double  rows,  along  a  winding  and  circling 
road  for  a  distance  of  three  miles.  Brilliant  banners 
streamed  forth  on  the  air,  and  here  and  there  all  over  the 
field  were  brightly  blazing  fires  of  fagots,  where  groups 
of  soldiers  stood  warming  themselves,  for  it  was  bitterly 
cold.  It  was  a  starlit  night  of  crystal,  sparkling  clearness. 

There  is  much  that  is  fitting  in  this  custom  of  holding 
funerals  in  these  calm  and  holy  hours  of  night,  when 
things  of  time  and  sense  dwindle  and  look  insignificant, 
when  the  world's  bustle  is  all  hushed,  when  the  unsym- 
pathetic glare  of  happy  day  is  veiled,  and  only  the  sooth- 
ing balm  of  the  quiet  and  darkness  in  harmony  with  the 
sorrow-stricken  heart  is  to  be  felt.  In  that  hour  the  di- 
vine presence  seems  to  be  most  imminent,  or  more  fully 
realized,  and  eternity  and  the  spirit  world  close  around  us. 

After  six  sets  of  prayers  and  sacrifices,  and  a  final  cere- 
mony of  farewell,  the  remains  were  to  be  interred.  At 
three  o'clock  A.M.  everything  was  in  readiness.  A 
beautiful  yellow  silk  imperial  carrying-chair,  for  the  use 
of  the  royal  spirit,  was  first  taken  up  the  hill  in  great  state, 
by  the  appointed  bearers.  Then  followed  another  of  green 
silk,  and  lastly  the  royal  casket  on  its  bier.  Long  ropes 
were  attached  to  the  latter,  held  by  men  standing  as  closely 
as  possible  to  each  other,  along  the  whole  length,  in  order 
to  insure  the  greatest  steadiness.  In  addition,  of  course, 
were  the  regular  bearers,  while  one  stood  on  the  front  of 
the  bier  directing  and  guiding  all.  Everything  was  done 
with  beautiful  precision,  there  was  not  a  misstep  nor  a  jar. 
It  is  said  that  on  such  occasions  a  bowl  filled  to  the  brim 
with  water  is  placed  on  the  bier,  and  if  a  drop  overflows 
severe  punishment  and  disgrace  falls  upon  the  carriers. 

A  solemn  and  stately  procession  of  soldiers  and  re- 


AN   IMPRESSIVE    PROCESSION  207 

tainers,  bearing  banners  and  lanterns  of  alternate  red 
and  yellow,  accompanied  and  followed  the  casket,  march- 
ing in  double  file  on  either  side  and  in  close  ranks,  all 
uttering  in  unison  a  low  and  measured  wailing  as  they  ad- 
vanced. Thus  all  that  remained  of  our  brilliant  queen  was 
carried  to  its  rest. 

Nothing  could  be  more  impressive,  solemn  and  beauti- 
ful than  this  procession,  circling  up  the  hill,  beneath  the 
clear  faithful  watch  of  the  stars  and  the  fathomless  depths 
of  limitless  space,  in  that  dark  hour  just  before  day.  After 
the  bier  followed  the  king  and  prince,  who  personally 
superintended  the  lowering  of  the  precious  remains  into 
the  tomb,  even  entering  the  crypt  to  see  that  the  casket 
was  well  rolled  back  under  the  great  block  of  granite 
which  covered  it. 

Sacrifices  and  prayers  were  again  offered,  the  gigantic 
wooden  horses  were  burned,  and  the  mourners  retired. 
An  audience  given  to  all  the  diplomats  and  invited  guests, 
for  the  expression  of  farewells  and  condolences,  ended  the 
ceremonies  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

For  some  time  before  and  after  the  removal  of  the  king 
to  his  own  palace  in  Chong  Dong,  a  growing  feeling  of 
anxiety  and  distrust  was  felt  over  the  preponderance  of 
Russian  influence,  which  found  expression  in  the  formal 
request  made  to  the  king  to  leave  the  legation. 

While  his  majesty  was  still  residing  there,  and  before 
the  uneasiness  with  regard  to  Russia  had  arisen,  the  "In- 
dependent Club"  had  been  organized  by  Mr.  So  Jay  Peel, 
with  the  consent  of  the  king,  to  emphasize  Korea's  inde- 
pendence of  China.  The  old  columns,  where  tribute  col- 
lectors from  that  nation  were  received,  were  pulled  down 
and  a  new  Independence  Arch  erected,  as  well  as  a  large 
building  for  the  official  business  of  the  club,  called  Inde- 
pendence Hall.  The  crown  prince  contributed  a  thousand 


208      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

dollars  for  this  purpose.  The  club  was  immensely  popular 
with  all  classes  and  many  of  the  nobility  as  well  as  the 
commoners  were  members.  But  the  real  object  of  the  club 
was  to  keep  Korea  independent  of  all  foreign  powers  in 
general,  and  of  Russia  and  Japan,  as  well  as  China,  in  par- 
ticular; to  protest  against,  and  prevent,  if  possible,  the 
usurpation  of  office  and  influence  by  foreigners,  to  stand 
for  the  rights  of  the  people,  the  autonomy  of  the  nation, 
its  gospel  being  in  a  word,  "Korea  for  the  Koreans." 

So  that  now,  when  the  menace  seemed  to  shift  its 
quarters  from  the  west  to  the  north,  the  Independence 
Club  began  to  make  itself  heard  against  Russia. 

A  word  with  regard  to  one  or  two  of  its  leaders  may 
be  of  interest.  Mr.  So  Jay  Peel  had  previously  belonged 
to  the  progressive  party,  and  had  been  obliged  to  flee  to 
Japan,  where  after  a  short  residence  he  went  to  America. 
He  was  of  very  high  rank  and  a  wealthy  family,  but  his 
property  having  been  confiscated  he  worked  his  own  way, 
graduating  from  a  first-class  college  with  highest  honors. 
Then  taking  a  civil  service  examination,  he  had  become  an 
American  citizen.  He  obtained  a  government  position, 
which  gave  him  light  work  with  sufficient  salary  to  enable 
him  to  take  a  course  in  medicine,  after  which  he  received  a 
very  fine  government  medical  appointment,  on  a  competi- 
tive examination. 

But  his  heart  turned  to  his  country,  and  after  the 
Japanese  war  and  the  establishment  of  Japanese  prestige, 
he  returned  to  Korea,  where  he  became  adviser  to  the 
king,  and  soon  after  started  a  newspaper  called  the  "Inde- 
pendent," which  was  printed  half  in  English  and  half  in 
the  native  character.  Mr.  So  proved  himself  a  gifted,  bril- 
liant and  eloquent  man,  full  of  enthusiastic  devotion  to  the 
emancipation  and  welfare  of  his  country,  perhaps  too  im- 
patient and  precipitate  in  trying  to  hasten  the  accomplish- 


THE   INDEPENDENTS  209 

ment  of  these  great  ends,  a  fault  common  with  young  and 
ardent  patriots.  Mr.  So  was  the  first  president  of  the  club, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Yun  Chee  Ho,  a  son  of  Gen- 
eral Yun,  who  had  led  the  attack  on  the  palace  for  the 
rescue  of  the  king.  Like  Mr.  So,  he  had  been  for  some 
years  away  from  Korea,  having  been  educated  partly  in 
China  in  an  American  Methodist  Mission  school,  and 
partly  under  the  same  auspices  in  America.  Both  he  and 
Mr.  So  are  members  of  American  Protestant  churches. 
Mr.  Yun,  who,  however,  still  retains  his  Korean  citizen- 
ship, is  also  both  a  fine  writer  and  speaker,  and  an  en- 
thusiastic patriot  and  progressionist.  He  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  So  in  the  editorship  of  the  "Independent." 
Their  following  consisted  quite  largely  of  impulsive,  eager 
young  men,  many  of  them  Christians,  very  many  of  them 
students,  and  probably  included  the  majority  of  the  bril- 
liant, energetic,  and  sincerely  patriotic  young  men  of  the 
capital. 

As  has  been  said,  after  Mr.  Waeber's  removal  and  the 
king's  departure  from  the  Russian  legation,  and  a  new 
Russian  minister  had  arrived,  Korea  became  more  than 
ever  subject  to  Russian  influence.  Russians  swarmed  in 
the  palace,  the  army  and  the  treasury  were  completely  in 
their  hands,  and  their  absolute  supremacy  seemed  only  a 
question  of  a  few  brief  weeks  or  months. 

At  this  time,  February,  1898,  the  Independence  Club 
offered  a  petition  to  the  king  asking  the  removal  of  all 
Russians  from  the  army  and  government  offices.  The 
Russian  minister  requested  the  king  to  state  his  wish  in 
this  matter,  and  soon  after,  being  informed  in  the  affirma- 
tive, the  Russians  were  all  withdrawn  for  the  time.  April 
12,  1898,  coincident  with  this,  Port  Arthur  was  ceded  to 
the  Russians  by  Japan,  a  fact  which  it  was  thought  by 
many  had  much  to  do  with  the  retirement  from  Korea.  It 


2io      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

is  most  improbable  that  the  action  of  Russia  was  in  this 
case  out  of  consideration  for  the  preferences  of  Koreans. 

The  Independence  Club  now  grew  more  and  more 
popular  and  held  frequent  loud  and  clamorous  meetings, 
at  which  public  affairs  were  discussed  with  great  freedom, 
the  wrong  doings  of  high  officials  severely  censured  and 
held  up  to  public  scorn,  and  unpopular  laws  sharply  criti- 
cised and  bitterly  inveighed  against.  They  were  full  of 
hope  and  patriotism,  their  aim  and  expectation  seeming  to 
be  to  have  all  wrongs  righted,  all  abuses  done  away  with, 
and  Korea  remade  in  a  day  a  free  government  and  people. 

The  Independence  Club  held  large  mass  meetings.  The 
shops  were  closed,  the  whole  population  was  stirred,  and 
even  women  held  meetings,  incredible  as  it  may  seem. 
As  a  result  of  which  a  written  petition  was  sent  to  the  gov- 
ernment, asking  for  seven  reforms,  abolishing  torture  and 
other  objectionable  customs,  and  granting  more  liberties. 

The  cabinet  approved  the  request,  the  king  added  six 
more  new  rules  for  reform,  and  Yun  Chee  Ho  was  made 
vice-president  of  the  Privy  Council.  At  once  another  gen- 
eral meeting  of  the  public  was  held,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed by  them  printed  tens  of  thousands  of  copies  of  the 
new  laws,  and  distributed  them  everywhere.  Among  the 
thirteen  new  rules,  it  was  suggested  and  consented  to  that 
there  should  be  established  a  sort  of  popular  congress,  a 
law-making  body,  with  powers  advisory  (certainly  very 
limited),  composed  of  one  hundred  people,  fifty  of  whom 
were  to  be  elected  by  the  popular  vote,  and  fifty  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  king.  But  now  the  government  began  to 
take  the  alarm  and  to  realize  that  they  had  opened  the 
sluice  gates  of  a  flood  which  threatened  to  overwhelm 
them. 

The  night  before  the  first  election  to  this  body  was 
to  have  taken  place  at  Independence  Hall,  seventeen  lead- 


POLITICAL   DISTURBANCES  211 

ing  members  of  the  club  were  arrested.  It  was  the  inten- 
tion of  the  minister  of  law  to  put  these  people  to  death,  but 
the  populace  rose  en  masse,  crowded  and  excited  meetings 
were  held  everywhere,  and  so  much  feeling  shown,  that 
the  decision  was  changed,  and  they  were  sentenced  to  ban- 
ishment instead.  But  the  populace  continued  to  rage. 
Large  masses  of  people,  who,  while  they  did  not  arm  them- 
selves or  resort  to  violence,  were  angry  and  threatening, 
gathered  in  front  of  the  government  offices  in  all  public 
places,  demanding  the  release  of  the  seventeen  or  that  they 
themselves  should  be  arrested.  At  length,  after  five  days' 
of  threatening  demonstrations  and  angry  mobs,  the  seven- 
teen were  released.  Now,  indeed,  the  Independents  felt 
they  had  gained  a  victory,  the  government  had  been  de- 
feated, and  the  people  henceforth  could  accomplish  any- 
thing. 

The  demand  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  king's  still  unful- 
filled promises  of  thirteen  reforms  was  again  renewed.  On 
this  the  officials  in  person  presented  themselves  before  the 
crowds,  commanding  them  to  disperse  and  promising 
everything  that  was  asked  if  they  would  do  so,  as  a  result 
of  which  the  people  quietly  dispersed. 

After  long  and  patient  waiting,  without  result,  no 
promises  kept  or  reforms  instituted,  and  on  the  contrary, 
the  bad  officials  who  had  been  put  out  of  office  again  re- 
instated, the  people  assembled  again  one  month  later  at 
Chong  No  (the  great  thoroughfare)  to  renew  their  de- 
mands. The  police  were  then  called  up  by  their  chief  and 
told  to  go  to  Chong  No,  and  regardless  of  consequences 
draw  their  swords  and  put  to  death  all  of  the  unarmed 
multitude  who  would  not  disperse.  Almost  to  a  man,  the 
police  began  throwing  off  their  official  badges,  saying  they 
were  one  with  the  people,  and  absolutely  refusing  to  obey 
such  orders. 


212      FIFTEEN    YEARS    AMONG    THE    TOP-KNOTS 

The  soldiers  were  then  called  out,  large  bodies  of  troops 
stationed  in  the  main  thoroughfares,  and  the  crowds  dis- 
persed at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

The  Independents  then  asserted  it  must  be  bad  officials, 
and  not  the  king,  who  were  thus  oppressing  them,  and  that 
their  petitions  could  never  have  reached  his  majesty.  They, 
therefore,  according  to  long-established  custom  with  peti- 
tions for  royal  favors,  all  convened  in  front  of  the  palace. 
Thousands  of  men  sat  there  quietly,  night  and  day,  for 
fourteen  days  waiting  to  be  heard. 

It  was  a  thrilling  and  impressive  sight.  There  was 
nothing  laughable  about  those  rows  of  silent,  patient,  de- 
termined citizens.  Many  had  their  food  brought  to  them, 
some  had  little  booths  or  tents  where  they  prepared  meals 
or  slept,  while  others  watched  and  waited,  a  few  went 
away  to  take  food,  only  to  return  as  speedily  as  possible. 
The  people  had  come  to  the  palace  to  stay,  until  an  an- 
swer could  be  had  from  the  king. 

After  the  Independents  had  been  camped  for  some  days 
thus  in  front  of  the  palace,  the  "Pusaings"  or  "Peddlers 
Guild,"  gathered  and  camped  in  another  part  of  the  city, 
with  the  avowed  intention  of  attacking  them. 

The  "Pusaings"  are,  as  their  name  indicates,  a  guild  of 
peddlers,  bound  together  as  a  secret  society  for  mutual 
benefit  and  protection.  They  have  connections  and 
branches  all  over  the  country,  and  are  sworn  to  render 
each  other  assistance  whenever  needed.  Like  the  Masons, 
they  have  secret  passwords  and  signs,  by  which  they  make 
themselves  known  to  each  other,  and  any  member  of  this 
great  guild  meeting  another,  even  for  the  first  time,  is 
bound  to  help  him  to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability.  In  this 
way  they  soon  become  extremely  powerful,  and  feared  by 
high  and  low,  rich  and  poor.  They  could  assemble  a  for- 
midable army  at  short  notice,  and  their  reputation  as  a 


THE    PUSAINGS  213 

ruffianly  body  of  men  has  long  been  established.  During 
the  reign  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  that  crafty  and  astute  old 
politician  decided  to  make  friends  of  this  dangerous  guild, 
rather  than  antagonize  them,  and  accordingly  granted 
them  a  number  of  special  privileges,  one  of  which  was 
the  right  to  collect  taxes  of  certain  kinds  of  merchandise, 
in  return  for  which  they  were  to  be  regularly  organized  by 
the  government  and  to  place  themselves  under  the  con- 
trol of  governors  of  provinces  and  other  officials,  holding 
themselves  ready  for  service  at  any  time.  They  wear  a 
peculiar  straw  hat  and  a  somewhat  different  dress  from 
other  Koreans,  so  that  they  are  easily  recognized  where- 
ever  seen. 

On  the  appearance  of  this  large  body  of  "Pusaings"  the 
king  sent  word  to  the  people,  in  order  to  calm  their  sus- 
picions, that  they  need  have  no  fear  of  the  Peddlers,  as  the 
police  should  be  ordered  to  keep  them  back,  and  a  cordon 
of  police  was  therefore  drawn  around  the  petitioners.  At 
length,  however,  the  "Pusaings"  made  an  attack  one  day 
at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  when  some  of  the  Inde- 
pendents, who  had  retired  during  the  night  or  had  gone  to 
their  breakfast,  were  away,  and  the  number  considerably 
reduced.  The  police  were  immediately  withdrawn,  and 
the  whole  assemblage  of  Independents  were  driven  away, 
and  many  of  them  seriously  injured.  When  they  attempted 
to  return  the  way  was  barricaded  by  soldiers,  and  their 
enemies,  the  "Pusaings,"  were  being  feasted  with  food 
sent  out  from  the  palace.  The  populace  then  assembled  in 
large  numbers,  with  the  determination  to  drive  away  the 
Peddlers,  which  they  did,  wounding  and  killing  a  few. 
Shortly  after,  however,  a  second  battle  was  fought,  in 
which  the  people  were  forced  to  retreat  and  one  of  the  In- 
dependents was  killed. 

The  people's  party  then  again  assembled  at  Chong  No, 


2i4      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

when  the  king  again  sent,  promising  he  would  give  all 
they  asked  if  they  would  disperse,  which  they  accordingly 
did  once  more.  Ten  days  later  the  king  called  them  to 
meet  before  the  palace.  On  that  occasion  he  came  out  to 
them,  standing  on  a  platform  built  for  the  purpose,  with 
his  officials  around  him,  and  the  members  of  the  foreign 
legations  occupying  a  tent  at  one  side,  and  a  large  number 
of  other  foreigners  also  present.  This  was  indeed  a  new 
thing  in  the  history  of  so  hoary  a  nation  for  the  king  to 
come  out  to  confer  with  the  populace  on  matters  of  state. 
The  president  of  the  Independents  at  that  time,  Kung 
Yung  Kun,  and  the  ex-president,  Yun  Chee  Ho,  were 
called  up  and  presented  by  the  king  with  a  document 
printed  on  yellow  imperial  paper,  in  which  he  solemnly 
promised  the  establishment  of  the  thirteen  reforms. 

The  meeting  then  dispersed,  and  the  people  waited  an- 
other thirty  days,  but  nothing  came  to  pass.  With  wonder- 
ful determination  and  persistence,  worthy  of  success  like 
the  widow  in  our  Lord's  parable,  who  waited  long  on  the 
unjust  judge  till  by  continual  coming  she  wearied  him  and 
obtained  her  desire,  they  again  assembled  at  Chong  No 
and  renewed  their  demands. 

Had  they  only  possessed  a  Hampton,  a  Cromwell,  a 
Washington,  or  a  Roland,  history  might  have  repeated 
itself  once  more.  And  yet  perhaps  it  was  no  more  the 
want  of  leaders  of  the  right  fearless  stamp,  than  the  need 
of  thousands  of  such  determined  dauntless,  unconquer- 
able souls  as  those  who  stood  back  of  Cromwell  and  Wash- 
ington. 

They,  however,  renewed  their  requests,  and  insisted 
they  would  allow  no  government  business  to  be  done  until 
the  king's  promises  were  fulfilled.  Soldiers  were  sent  out 
from  time  to  time  and  dispersed  them,  but  they  gathered 
again  and  again. 


THE  INDEPENDENTS  CRUSHED      215 

At  length  the  government  accused  them  of  scheming  to 
establish  a  republic  and  elect  a  president,  and  bodies  of  sol- 
diers and  police  were  placed  all  over  the  city.  Wholesale 
arrests  were  made,  little  groups  of  even  three  or  four  were 
dispersed  by  the  use  of  detectives  and  a  very  wide  system 
of  espionage,  meetings  were  prevented,  the  Independents 
crushed,  and  their  buildings  and  property  confiscated. 
Thus,  for  the  time  at  least,  ended  what  looked  like  the  be- 
ginnings of  a  revolution,  but  the  people  were  not  ready 
and  the  time  not  ripe. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

Itineration  Incidents — Kaiwha — Christian  Evidences — Buying 
Christian  Books  instead  of  an  Office — Seed  Sowing — 
Moxa's  Boy  in  the  Well — Kugungers  Again — Pung  Chung 
— Pyeng  Yang — The  Needs  of  the  Women. 

ANOTHER  long  trip  into  the  interior  was  taken  the 
following  year,  some  newly  arrived  missionaries  from 
Canada  who  wished  to  study  methods  and  people  accom- 
panying us.  Just  before  this  Mr.  Underwood  had  re- 
visited the  river  villages  where  there  were  Christians 
under  his  oversight,  and  found  as  usual  a  steady  growth 
everywhere,  not  that  there  are  no  drawbacks,  none  who 
have  backslidden  or  proved  insincere,  but  that  such  in- 
stances are  marvelously  rare,  and  that  the  encouragements 
far  exceed  the  discouragements,  that  the  little  groups  are 
steadily  growing  in  numbers,  in  enlightenment  and  the 
home  life  is  vastly  higher  in  tone.  At  Haing  Ju  a  commo- 
dious new  chapel  had  been  built,  a  fact  which  the  people 
had  kept  as  a  surprise  for  the  missionary.  As  usual  he 
found  new  groups  of  believers  which  had  sprung  into  life 
since  his  previous  visit. 

The  beginning  of  one  of  these  at  Kimpo,  as  related  by 
Mr.  Shin,  was  very  interesting.  Mr.  Shin  said  that  one 
night  as  he  lay  asleep  he  thought  he  saw  the  Moxa  come 
up  to  him,  with  the  long  walking-stick  in  his  hand  which 
he  uses  on  his  country  trips.  Prodding  the  sleeper  vigor- 
ously with  it,  he  said,  "Come,  come,  why  don't  you  go  to 
work ;  get  up  and  go  over  there  (pointing  across  the  river 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   WORK  217 

to  Kimpo)  and  pass  on  the  Word."  Shin  woke  up,  but 
fell  asleep  again,  and  again  the  Moxa  came  back  and  even 
more  urgently  bade  him  get  up,  and  go  and  carry  the  gos- 
pel to  Kimpo.  Again  he  awoke,  and  the  third  time  fell 
asleep,  and  dreamed  as  before.  He  knew  no  one  at  Kimpo 
and  had  no  reason  to  think  there  was  any  more  hopeful 
opening  there  than  elsewhere,  but  the  dream  impressed 
him  so  strongly,  that  he  felt  he  must  go.  When  he  reached 
there,  he  found  one  or  two  families  whose  interest  had  be- 
come awakened  through  some  books,  and  who  were  long- 
ing for  some  one  to  come  and  teach  them  more.  One  man, 
once  a  burly  and  notorious  prize-fighter,  is  now  the  leader 
among  the  Christians  in  that  vicinity,  and  one  of  the  shin- 
ing lights  among  the  river  villages,  and  this  same  Kimpo 
is  one  of  the  most  promising  centers  of  work. 

The  training  class,  the  instruction  of  which  was  part  of 
Mr.  Underwood's  business  in  the  interior  that  fall,  was 
to  be  held  in  Hai  Ju.  The  class  was  taught  five  hours  each 
day,  and  women  who  would  come  were  met  and  taught  by 
me  in  my  room.  One  hour  after  the  men's  class  in  the 
afternoon  was  given  to  street  preaching,  our  Canadian 
friends,  Dr.  Grierson  and  Mr.  McRae,  helping  immensely 
with  music  and  singing  and  in  the  distribution  of  tracts. 
A  general  meeting  for  prayer  and  Bible  study  was  held  in 
the  class  room  every  evening. 

When  the  class  had  adjourned,  we  proceeded  to  make 
the  usual  circuit  of  the  part  of  the  province  under  our 
care.  As  on  the  river,  so  here  along  the  sea  and  in  the 
mountains,  the  numbers  of  new  centers  of  gospel  growth 
were  amazing.  "It  springeth  up  he  knoweth  not  how." 
In  one  place  a  couple  of  old  men,  travelling  along  rather 
weary,  sat  down  by  the  roadside  and  as  they  rested  sang  a 
hymn.  A  farmer  whose  house  was  near,  overhearing  the 
strange  words  of  the  song,  came  and  questioned,  and  ere 


218      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

long  became  a  believer,  with  his  family.  From  this  house- 
hold the  blessing  overflowed  for  neighbors  and  friends.  In 
another  case  a  young  bride  made  a  strong  stand  for  Christ 
in  the  heathen  family  into  which  she  had  married,  until  she 
had  won  over  the  entire  family  to  the  same  faith,  and  they 
again  had  brought  others.  These  are  only  a  couple  of  ex- 
amples that  were  paralleled  in  many  communities. 

Some  of  the  answers  of  these  poor  half-taught  people 
when  catechised  were  given  in  a  previous  chapter,  another 
that  of  an  old  woman  I  thought  significant  and  touching. 
When  asked  where  Jesus  was,  she  said  promptly,  "He's 
right  here  with  me  all  the  time."  "Yes,  but  where  else  is 
he?"  Confused  and  troubled  that  she  could  not  satisfy 
the  Moxa,  she  said,  "I'm  only  a  poor  ignorant  old  woman, 
I  don't  know  where  else  he  is,  but  I  know  he  is  right  here 
in  my  house  all  the  time."  The  devotion  of  the  people  to 
us,  because  through  our  hands  had  come  the  bread  of  life, 
was  to  me  exceedingly  affecting,  and  everywhere  the  re- 
lation existing  between  the  people  and  their  Moxas  is  a 
peculiarly  close  and  tender  one.  When  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries was  sick  for  some  time,  the  women  in  the  coun- 
try villages  through  a  large  section  held  united  daily 
prayer  for  her  for  several  weeks.  This  without  her  knowl- 
edge, quite  spontaneously,  and  without  prearrangement 
among  the  different  localities. 

The  following  year  I  was  providentially  hindered  from 
making  the  trip  to  the  country  with  my  husband,  but  in 
1900,  with  Dr.  Whiting,  Mr.  Underwood  and  our  little 
son,  I  was  again  able  to  go  to  Whang  Hai  province.  We 
started  in  February,  and  as  there  was  now  a  little  steamer 
which  had  begun  to  ply  between  Hai  Ju  and  Chemulpo, 
we  decided  to  profit  by  it,  as  this  would  be  both  easier  and 
cheaper  than  the  old  way.  Kaiwha  (as  they  call  prog- 
ress) had  "twessocd"  (become)  considerably  since  our 


:ANDY    BOY. 


KOREAN    PROGRESS  219 

last  trip.  A  railroad  had  been  laid  between  Seoul  and 
Chemulpo,  with  trains  traveling  about  fifteen  miles  an 
hour.  The  steamers  referred  to  are  a  marvel  also  as  speci- 
mens of  said  kaiwha.  About  the  size  of  an  ordinary  de- 
spatch boat,  or  small  tug,  they  are  not  too  commodious. 

There  are  two  cabins,  neither  of  which  is  high  enough 
for  tall  people  to  stand  erect  in,  one  of  which,  with  hardly 
room  for  three  or  four  to  occupy  it  with  comfort,  is 
packed  with  the  unhappy  second-class  passengers.  The 
other  is  somewhat  larger,  about  twelve  feet  long  by  six 
wide.  This  room  contains  a  table  and  six  chairs,  and  in  it 
are  often  stowed  from  ten  to  twenty  first-class  passengers. 
Here  one  meets  "the  world."  Korean  officials,  Korean, 
Chinese  or  Japanese  merchants,  French  Romanist  priests, 
strolling  acrobats,  singers,  dancing  girls,  and  Protestant 
missionaries.  All  except  the  latter  smoke  until  the  air 
will  slice  nicely,  and  many  of  them  indulge  in  native  or 
foreign  liquor  till  their  society  is  almost  past  endurance. 

The  boat  follows  the  river  northward  past  the  histori- 
cal island  of  Kangwha,  with  its  picturesque  walls  and 
gates,  till  it  flows  into  the  sea,  an  arm  of  which  our  course 
crosses  at  this  point  to  reach  the  shore  on  which  lies  the 
little  village  which  is  the  port  for  the  city  of  Hai  Ju.  On 
the  day  in  question,  when  we  profited  for  the  first  by  all 
these  contrivances  of  kaiwha,  the  ice  was  still  in  the  river, 
ours  being  only  the  second  trip  made  since  it  began  to 
break.  Nothing  could  be  seen  on  all  sides  but  great 
blocks  of  ice,  much  larger  than  our  little  craft,  and  all  in 
a  conspiracy  apparently  to  prevent  our  advance,  banging 
and  pushing  us,  now  on  one  side  and  now  on  the  other. 
With  much  panting  and  puffing,  occasionally  sustaining  a 
pretty  severe  shock  but  quickly  gaining  advantage  lost  and 
shoving  aside  her  clumsy  opponents,  our  boat  steadily 
forced  her  passage  onward  and  gradually  gained  the  clear 


220      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

waters  of  the  sea.  This  trip  lasted  only  sixteen  hours, 
while  it  would  have  taken  three  days  overland. 

We  landed  at  half  past  eight  on  the  edge  of  a  long 
stretch  of  mud  flats,  covered  with  slimy  boulders  and 
stones,  all  of  which  now  lay  under  a  foot  of  half  frozen 
snow,  which  hid  the  rocks  and  made  the  going  very  pre- 
carious in  the  darkness.  There  was  only  one  warm  room 
to  be  had  and  no  food,  while  the  "warm  room"  was  only 
a  little  less  cold  than  out  of  doors.  Thoroughly  chilled, 
tired  and  hungry,  and  somewhat  dispirited,  as  hungry 
folks  are  apt  to  be,  we  all  retired  to  the  floor,  to  rest  finely, 
and  waken  in  a  better  mind  next  morning,  none  the  worse 
for  our  seafaring. 

At  Hai  Ju  the  believers  gathered  around  us  with  the 
warmest  welcome.  They  were  all  mourning  the  loss  of  a 
beloved  leader  who  had  died  a  short  time  before.  We  of 
course  held  meetings  with  them  during  the  two  days, 
which  were  all  we  could  spare  at  that  time,  saw  and  talked 
with  all  who  would  come,  trying  to  strengthen  and  com- 
fort the  believers,  and  promising  if  possible  to  remain 
longer  with  them  on  our  return.  One  poor  young 
wife  whose  husband  had  given  up  Christianity  and  gone 
back  to  the  his  old  life,  and  whose  heathen  mother-in-law 
was  persecuting  her  cruelly,  excited  our  pity.  Pale,  emaci- 
ated and  tearful,  she  came  begging  our  advice  and  help. 

From  Hai  Ju  we  proceeded  to  Chang  Yun  Eub,  where 
the  training  class  of  leaders  was  to  be  held  this  year,  and 
where  Dr.  Whiting  and  I  had  planned  to  hold  a  somewhat 
similar  class  for  women.  On  the  way  a  stranger,  seeing 
my  husband  was  an  American,  asked  if  he  knew  "a  certain 
'Un  Moxa'  (Preacher  Underwood)  who  sometimes  came 
down  that  way  and  taught  people  to  be  good  and  kind  to 
each  other,"  showing  that  he  had  been  reading  from  the 
book  of  native  Christian  practice.  All  along  this  road, 


ITINERATING  221 

where  only  a  few  years  before  there  was  absolute  igno- 
rance of  the  gospel,  we  found  evidences  of  the  dawning 
light.  Here  and  there  in  a  wayside  inn  we  found  a  Chris- 
tian book,  or  a  family  half  timidly  beginning  to  believe. 
Everywhere  they  had  heard  of  "the  doctrine,"  and  heard 
well  of  it. 

Everywhere  there  was  a  pleasant  welcome  for  us  and  a 
ready  ear  for  our  story.  At  Chang  Yun  Eub,  quite  a 
number  of  Christian  women  had  gathered  to  meet  and 
welcome  us.  One  or  two  days  after  reaching  there  I  took 
a  ten-mile  ride  in  a  bitter  wind  to  visit  a  sick  woman, 
which  resulted  in  severe  influenza  and  bronchitis,  which, 
though  I  managed  to  fight  off  for  five  days,  at  length  con- 
fined me  to  my  room  and  bed  for  three  long  weeks.  Many 
of  the  women  had  come  from  five  to  twenty  miles  on  foot 
to  study  with  us,  so  it  was  bitterly  disappointing,  but  Dr. 
Whiting  did  her  own  part  and  mine,  too,  nobly.  Nearly 
all  the  villages  in  that  district  were  represented  by  the 
local  leaders  and  pastors  at  Mr.  Underwood's  class.  They 
at  this  time  organized  a  missionary  society,  which  they 
themselves  originated  and  planned  in  part,  before  our  ar- 
rival. They  perfected  their  scheme  with  Mr.  Underwood's 
advice. 

Taking  a  map  of  the  district,  they  arranged  to  work  in 
couples,  and  to  each  man  was  assigned  four  heathen  vil- 
lages, each  to  be  visited  once  a  month,  each  man  pledging 
himself  to  do  this  work  every  Sunday  during  the  year. 
Two  superintendents  were  appointed  to  oversee  the  gen- 
eral work,  advise  and  help  these  missionaries,  and  report 
to  Mr.  Underwood.  All  were  to  go  at  their  own  expense. 

By  the  time  the  class  was  over  I  was  able  to  be  carried 
along  the  road  in  my  chair,  and  only  one  who  has  been 
shut  in  for  three  weeks,  in  a  tiny  room  not  eight  feet  high, 
without  a  pane  of  glass  in  it,  quite  alone  most  of  the  time, 


222      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

can  realize  how  glad  I  was  to  be  released  into  the  fresh, 
sweet  air  and  sunshine.  Before  leaving  Chang  Yun  we 
bade  a  long  farewell  to  one  of  the  Christian  women,  who 
with  a  smile  and  the  sweet  words,  "It's  all  grace,  it's  all 
love,"  fell  gently  asleep  in  Jesus.  Dr.  Whiting,  in  accord- 
ance with  previous  plans,  did  not  go  with  us  further,  but 
returned  to  Seoul.  After  leaving  Chang  Yun,  our  first  stop 
was  made  at  the  village  of  On  Chang,  where  we  met  quite 
a  little  handful  of  believers.  One  of  these,  a  woman  who 
was  the  first  convert  in  that  place,  had  been  much  troubled 
and  burdened  with  a  sense  of  guilt.  At  length  she  heard 
that  in  Chang  Yun  there  were  people  that  could  tell  her 
of  One  who  could  forgive  sins.  She  went  forthwith  and 
learned  of  Jesus  and  found  peace  and  pardon,  and  came 
back  to  spread  the  good  tidings  and  "pass  on  the  word" 
to  her  neighbors. 

One  of  these  women  was  a  peddler,  a  class  who  have  to 
make  some  sacrifices  to  keep  the  Sabbath.  Nearly  all  their 
business  is  done  at  the  little  fairs  or  market  days,  which 
take  place  every  five  days  at  one  or  another  of  the  hamlets 
in  a  certain  curcuit.  Quite  often  one  of  these  days  falls  on 
a  Sunday,  and  so  a  whole  five  days'  profit  is  lost.  But 
this  makes  no  difference,  the  day  is  cheerfully  kept ;  an- 
other who  kept  an  inn  as  cheerfully  decided  to  sell  no  more 
liquor,  her  chief  source  of  profit. 

Our  next  stopping  place  was  at  Cho  Chun,  and  as  soon 
as  we  neared  the  vicinity,  we  were  met  by  men,  women 
and  children,  who  had  walked  out  to  meet  us  and  conduct 
us  to  the  home  of  the  leader,  in  this  case  the  richest  and 
chief  man  of  the  whole  neighborhood.  People  professing 
Christianity  gathered  here  from  several  small  villages, 
were  examined  and  many  baptized.  It  seemed  too  hard 
that  we  had  only  so  short  a  time  to  stay  in  these  places 
where  we  were  needed  so  much.  Most  of  the  women 


NATIVE    KINDNESS  223 

actually  wept  when  we  were  obliged  to  say  farewell,  and 
the  men  and  boys  followed  us  miles,  sometimes  to  the  next 
stage  in  our  journey.  They  are  touchingly  grateful  for 
the  little  we  do  for  them,  while  we  thank  God  for  allowing 
us  to  learn  from  them,  their  simple  childlike  faith  and  en- 
tire dependence  on  him. 

Mrs.  Ha,  the  wife  of  the  leader,  was  the  only  one  in  the 
village  who  could  read,  and  she  taught  the  other  women 
beautifully.  Calm,  strong,  intelligent,  she  seemed  to  me  a 
rare  type  of  a  Korean  woman,  and  one  who  was  destined 
to  be  very  useful  if  she  were  only  better  instructed.  She 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  Gospels  and  Acts,  the  only 
Scriptures  till  quite  lately  in  their  hands,  and  with  nearly 
all  the  hymns.  But  her  opportunities  for  study  and  in- 
struction were  also  very  few. 

After  leaving  Cho  Chun  nearly  twelve  miles  distant  was 
our  next  destination,  a  little  country  town  of  about  two 
thousand  people,  which  we  reached  after  a  few  hours' 
travel.  Here  we  lodged  in  a  neat  and  comfortable  little 
building  consisting  of  two  rooms,  with  a  lean-to  kitchen, 
which  the  natives  had  built  for  us  near  to  the  church,  half 
at  their  own  expense.  The  steps  by  which  we  ascended 
to  our  rooms  were  the  family  ancestral  worship  stones, 
which  the  Christians  had  once  greatly  treasured,  but  for 
which  they  had  no  further  use.  The  women  flocked  in  to 
greet  me,  and  next  day  I  had  the  larger  room,  sixteen  by 
twenty-four  feet,  crowded  with  heathen  women  who  came 
to  see  the  foreign  woman  and  child,  but  were  willing  to 
hear  about  Christ.  Gifts  of  candies,  fruits  and  other  food 
poured  in  as  usual. 

Many  were  examined  for  baptism,  and  gave  most  satis- 
factory evidence  of  conversion,  but  among  them  all  one 
deaf  old  woman  interested  me  most.  She  was  very  deaf 
and  stupid.  It  seemed  almost  impossible  for  even  the  Ko- 


224      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

rean  leader  to  make  her  hear  or  understand  the  questions. 
She  was  most  anxious  to  be  baptized,  but  how  to  learn 
whether  she  knew  enough  of  the  gospel,  we  were  at  a  loss 
to  discover. 

At  last  a  question  seemed  to  reach  her,  "Where  are  you 
going  when  you  die?"  Her  face  brightened  and  the  an- 
swer came,  "I'm  going  to  Jesus."  Mark,  not  heaven,  but 
Jesus.  This  is  the  keynote  that  is  always  struck,  Jesus, 
their  stay  now,  and  hope  hereafter,  their  wisdom,  right- 
eousness, and  sanctification. 

The  first  news  of  the  gospel  was  brought  here  to  Eul 
Yul  by  a  man  of  high  family,  considerable  wealth  and  offi- 
cial connections,  who  went  to  Seoul  with  the  intention  of 
buying  an  office.  He  heard  about  Christ,  however,  while 
there,  and  instead  of  an  office,  bought  a  donkey  load  of 
books,  which  he  took  back  to  Eul  Yul,  and  there  dis- 
tributed among  his  neighbors.  About  the  same  time  a  cer- 
tain magistrate,  just  appointed,  and  going  down  there  to 
his  office,  who  was  a  friend  of  my  husband's,  invited  him 
to  visit  him  at  Eul  Yul  when  in  the  country.  Mr.  Under- 
wood thanked  him,  but  replied,  "You  know  if  I  go  it  will 
be  only  with  the  one  purpose  of  preaching."  "Certainly, 
come  and  preach,"  was  the  answer. 

So  Mr.  Underwood  promised  he  would  do  so  if  his 
friend,  the  magistrate,  would  see  that  a  large  and  con- 
venient official  building  was  placed  at  his  disposal  for  ser- 
vices while  there.  This  was  willingly  promised  at  once, 
so  the  class  was  appointed  to  be  held  there  that  year,  and 
with  the  rally  of  Christian  leaders,  and  the  earnest  pre- 
paratory work  of  the  man  who  had  preferred  Christ  to  an 
office  (of  which  Mr.  U.  had  not  previously  been  in- 
formed), Christianity  in  Eul  Yul  began  most  auspiciously. 
Up  to  the  present  time,  however,  he  who  had  been  so 
earnest  in  preaching  the  gospel,  and  so  generous  in  sup- 


SEED   SOWING  225 

porting  it,  had  never  been  baptized.  The  difficulty  was 
that  he  had  two  wives,  with  neither  of  whom  could  he 
bring  himself  to  part.  These  concubines  have  a  strong 
hold,  and  justly  so,  on  the  men  who  had  made  them  part  of 
their  family,  and  on  whom  they  are  dependent.  All  a 
man's  magnanimity,  generosity  and  tenderness  are  ap- 
pealed to  on  behalf  of  these  women,  who,  unlike  the  danc- 
ing girls,  have  in  the  eyes  of  the  community  a  certain  share 
of  respectability,  and  are  usually  not  bad  or  unprincipled, 
but  have  been  taught  to  look  with  toleration  and  com- 
plaisance on  such  a  life,  the  common  custom. 

However,  now,  at  last,  he  decided  while  we  were  there 
to  take  the  step  and  put  away  the  second  wife,  providing 
her  with  a  home  and  fields  enough  to  give  her  a  good  in- 
come. So  he  and  his  wife  and  baby,  and  his  grown  son 
with  his  wife  and  little  one,  in  company  with  a  number  of 
others,  were  baptized.  The  people  of  Eul  Yul  had  built 
their  own  church,  as  well  as  one-half  of  the  guest  house, 
for  their  missionary.  When  we  left,  every  believer  who 
could  walk  came  to  bid  us  farewell,  "Pyeng  anikasio" 
(Go  in  peace).  We  had  a  last  prayer  and  praise  service, 
and  parted  with  mutual  good  wishes  and  regrets,  a  long 
train  of  men  and  boys  as  usual  streaming  out  along  the 
road,  with  and  behind  us. 

Our  next  station  was  Pak  Chun,  six  miles  away  (the 
distances  used  to  be  twenty  and  thirty  miles,  now  six, 
eight  or  twelve),  but  before  we  reached  there  we  must 
stop  and  meet  a  little  band  of  Christians  at  a  farm  where 
seed  had  been  dropped  by  passing  believers  and  where  a 
whole  family  had  been  converted.  Here  we  met  a  young 
bride  from  another  hamlet  not  far  distant,  who  with  her 
husband  had  lately  become  a  believer.  At  Pak  Chun  we 
were  received  with  the  usual  hearty  welcome.  Here  I 
found  Mrs.  Kim  of  Sorai  like  a  ministering  angel  going 


226      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

her  rounds  of  self-appointed,  unpaid  ministration  of  the 
Word,  teaching  the  gospel  to  these  poor  women,  not  one 
of  whom  could  read.  A  good  many  from  neighboring 
villages  were  examined  here,  and  we  held  a  baptismal  and 
communion  service  just  before  leaving.  The  church  was 
as  yet  unfinished  and  extremely  damp  and  cold,  as  well  as 
uncomfortably  crowded,  so  I  sent  our  little  son  out  of 
doors  to  play  until  we  should  finish.  But  scarcely  had  the 
meeting  well  begun  when  word  came  that  "the  Moxa's 
child  had  fallen  in  the  well."  Mr.  Underwood  rushed  to 
the  rescue,  giving  out  a  long  hymn  as  he  started,  to  keep 
the  crowd  occupied.  However,  by  the  time  we  reached  the 
scene  he  had  emerged  from  his  cold  bath  and  been  taken 
to  our  room. 

The  ox-cart  with  all  our  packs  was  standing  at  the  door, 
just  about  to  start  for  the  next  place.  It  was  the  work  of 
a  few  moments  to  pull  down  the  whole  load,  open  our 
trunks,  and  get  out  dry  garments,  only  too  thankful  that  it 
had  not  already  trundled  several  miles  on.  I  found  a 
dripping,  shivering  little  animal  awaiting  me  as  I  rushed 
into  our  quarters,  but  no  harm  was  done,  he  was  soon 
quite  dry  and  warm,  his  wet  apparel  dangling  from  the 
ox-cart  acting  as  an  excellent  road  sprinkler.  Just  before 
leaving  I  saw  a  child  quite  naked,  covered  with  smallpox 
pustules  in  full  bloom,  standing  near  our  door.  I  asked 
one  of  the  natives  if  there  was  much  of  that  disease  in  the 
village  at  present.  "In  every  house,"  was  the  concise  re- 
ply. "Why  there  is  none  in  the  house  we  are  in,"  said  I, 
with  confidence.  "Oh,  no,  they  took  the  child  out  the  day 
you  came  in  order  to  give  you  the  room,"  was  the  re- 
assuring answer.  We  had  eaten  and  slept  in  that  infected 
little  room,  our  blankets  all  spread  out  there,  our  trunks 
opened,  everything  we  had  exposed.  We  had  even  used 
their  cooking  utensils  and  spoons  and  bowls  before  our 


"DIVERS   DISEASES"  227 

own  packs  had  arrived.  For  ourselves  we  had  been  often 
exposed,  and  believed  ourselves  perfectly  immune.  Mr. 
Underwood  had  nursed  a  case  of  the  most  malignant  type, 
and  I  had  been  in  contact  with  it  among  my  patients,  but 
our  child !  So  we  sent  a  swift  messenger  with  a  despatch 
to  the  nearest  telegraph  station,  twenty-four  hours  away, 
to  Dr.  Wells,  in  Pyeng  Yang.  He  at  once  put  a  tube  of 
virus  into  the  hands  of  a  speedy  runner,  who  arrived  with 
it  a  week  later. 

We  found  the  country  full  of  smallpox,  measles,  and 
whooping  cough,  and  added  to  our  smallpox  experience, 
an  exactly  similar  one  with  measles.  The  record  of  one  of 
these  little  villages  is  much  like  another.  At  Pung  Chun,  a 
place  with  a  magistracy,  we  found  the  crowds  almost  un- 
bearable, especially  as  the  magistrate  was  away  and  his 
substitute  unwilling  to  help  us.  No  foreign  woman  or 
child  had  ever  yet  been  there,  and  we  were  fairly  besieged 
by  people  who  after  any  fashion,  lawful  or  otherwise,  were 
determined  to  see  the  curiosities.  Too  tired  that  night  to 
do  more  than  hold  a  brief  meeting  with  the  few  Christians 
who  lived  there,  we  barred,  barricaded  and  curtained  our- 
selves in.  How  often  under  such  circumstances  I  have 
been  able  to  sympathize  as  never  before  with  our  blessed 
Lord,  who  was  forced  to  withdraw  to  the  mountains  and 
desert  places  for  a  little  rest  and  quiet  from  the  impor- 
tunity of  the  eager  selfish  crowds,  who  thronged  him  and 
followed  him  even  there  in  thousands.  We  read  "They  had 
no  leisure  as  much  as  to  eat,"  and  that  he  forbade  the  peo- 
ple he  healed  to  spread  the  news  abroad.  Quite  uselessly. 
What  weariness,  what  longing  he  must  at  times  have  felt 
for  a  few  hours  of  quiet  and  peace,  only  the  hunted  can 
realize,  yet  how  patient,  gentle  and  compassionate  he  was ! 
The  next  day  I  talked  to  a  room  packed  full  of  heathen 
women,  those  who  could  not  force  an  entrance  crowding 


228      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

around  the  doors  and  windows,  as  many  as  could  get  a 
view  or  hearing.  They  listened  with  interest  and  atten- 
tion for  more  than  an  hour,  asking  intelligent  questions 
occasionally,  and  treating  me  with  perfect  respect. 

In  the  afternoon  I  had  another  and  smaller  company  of 
those  whom  Mrs.  Kim  of  Sorai  had  culled  from  among 
those  she  had  been  visiting  and  teaching  as  the  most  hope- 
ful cases.  With  these  we  talked,  sang  and  prayed,  trying 
as  usual  to  make  the  most  of  the  few  hours  we  could  be 
with  them.  A  few  people  were  examined  and  two  or  three 
baptized  of  those  who  had  been  believing  for  some  time. 

From  Pung  Chun  we  passed  through  a  lovely  valley  and 
over  a  beautiful  mountain  pass  to  a  village  nestled  right 
up  in  the  mountains.  Here  the  interest  had  extended  to 
two  villages  of  hardy  mountaineers,  all  of  which  had  been 
started  by  an  old  woman  from  Sorai.  She  cannot  read,  but 
she  continually  preaches  Christ  to  every  one  whom  she 
meets.  Her  son  is  the  local  leader,  and  his  family  are  all 
Christians. 

Thus  far  Mr.  Underwood  had  during  our  circuit  ex- 
amined one  hundred  and  fifty  people  and  baptized  seventy- 
five.  About  half  of  the  other  seventy-five  were  received  as 
catechumens.  At  Pung  Chun  we  were  greatly  interested 
to  learn  that  the  Koreans  have  a  custom  of  sprinkling 
blood  on  the  door  posts,  and  above  the  door  of  the  home  to 
drive  away  evil  spirits.  When  I  told  my  class  at  Chang 
Yun  how  the  Jews  did  this  before  leaving  Egypt,  and 
what  it  meant,  they  looked  at  each  other  and  exclaimed 
with  surprise,  "Why,  that  is  our  custom,  too."  But  at 
Pung  Chun  we  found  that  it  had  only  recently  been  done 
at  the  very  inn  where  we  stopped,  and  were  told  that  it 
was  quite  a  common  custom  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
The  natives  also  have  a  cold  rice  festival,  much  like  the 
feast  of  unleavened  bread. 


BUSY   DAYS  229 

The  scenery  from  Chil  Pong  to  Won  Tong  is  very 
beautiful.  The  road  winds  through  the  mountains,  accom- 
panied by  a  charming  little  river  most  of  the  way.  There 
is  a  wonderful  restfulness  in  the  quiet  of  these  mountains, 
where  no  rattle  of  the  world  intrudes  to  break  the  divine 
silences,  or  to  interrupt  the  voices  of  nature,  which  only 
emphasize  the  peacefulness  that  envelops  one.  One 
feels  God  near  and  communion  with  him  easy.  The  heart 
lifts  itself  with  no  effort  in  scenes  like  these. 

From  Won  Tong  we  passed  to  Sorai  or  Song  Chun,  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  often  made  in  these 
pages.  We  were  lodged  in  the  school  room  next  the 
church,  a  sunny,  pleasant  apartment.  This  Sorai  school 
was  already  famed  through  all  the  country  round,  and 
Christians  were  sending  their  boys  from  other  villages  to 
obtain  the  advantage  of  Christian  teaching.  Next  morn- 
ing early  a  company  of  little  girls  and  boys  were  waiting 
outside  my  door,  dressed  in  new  clean  garments  of  the 
brightest  possible  colors  (starched,  dyed,  and  pounded  to 
a  miraculous  crispness,  gloss  and  glory  of  tint,  chiefly 
scarlet, green  and  yellow), especially  for  this  occasion.  We 
had  a  singing  class  with  them  every  morning  after  that, 
and  a  Bible  story  was  told  and  explained,  too.  The 
women's  class  was  held  immediately  after  the  children's, 
but  many  women  came  to  the  children's  class,  and  most  of 
the  children  came  to  that  held  for  the  women.  In  the 
afternoon  the  women  came  again  for  another  Bible  lesson, 
and  in  the  evening  men,  women  and  children  met  for 
united  prayer,  praise  and  Bible  study  with  Mr.  Under- 
wood. 

I  was  again  taken  very  sick  here  at  Sorai,  but  recovered 
when  that  result  seemed  most  unlikely,  through  God's 
answer  to  the  prayers  of  our  native  Christians,  one  of 
whom,  Mrs.  Kim,  spent  the  whole  night  in  prayer  for  me. 


230      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Such  love  and  devotion  makes  the  tie  between  pastor  and 
people  very  strong. 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  travel  we  hurried  back  to  Hai 
Ju  and  Seoul,  for  word  had  come,  bringing  the  sad  news 
of  the  death  of  Mr.  Gifford  in  one  of  the  country  villages 
about  sixty  miles  from  Seoul.  He  had  gone  alone  with  a 
Korean  helper,  and  after  a  brief  illness  had  passed  away 
suddenly  at  night,  probably  scarcely  aware  that  he  was 
seriously  ill.  He  was  loved  by  all  the  Koreans,  who  could 
not  fail  to  recognize  his  spirituality  and  consecration. 
Mrs.  Gifford  was  then  in  an  extremely  weak  state,  having 
never  recovered  her  strength  after  a  violent  attack  of 
Asiatic  dysentery  the  preceding  summer.  She  had  just 
begun  to  improve  a  little,  and  we  to  hope  that  at  last  we 
might  look  for  her  return  to  perfect  health. 

A  native  messenger,  all  unannounced,  rushed  into  her 
presence  and  told  her  that  her  husband  was  dead.  She 
never  saw  his  face  again,  or  had  the  sad  comfort  of  a  mes- 
sage, or  one  of  these  little  souvenirs  which  women  prize 
and  console  their  aching  hearts  withal.  She  wilted  like 
a  lily,  rudely  snapped  from  the  stem.  When  the  first  shock 
was  over  and  her  mind  became  a  little  composed,  several 
days  later,  after  friends  had  left  her  for  a  peaceful  sooth- 
ing night's  rest,  a  Korean  servant  entered  the  room  and 
told  her  that  her  husband  had  been  neglected  and  slighted 
in  his  last  illness,  and  had  died  alone  quite  uncared  for. 
She  never  rallied  from  this  blow.  Sweet,  calm,  uncom- 
plaining, she  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  and  only  one 
month  after  her  beloved  husband  passed  away  her  gentle 
spirit  followed.  They  had  been  extremely  congenial  and 
well  suited,  and  it  seemed  a  gracious  providence  that  they 
were  so  soon  reunited. 

Mrs.  Gifford  was  a  woman  greatly  beloved  by  every 
one,  and  one  of  the  most  effective  and  consecrated  women 


CHANGES  AT   PYENG  YANG  231 

workers  on  the  field,  with  a  modest  unassuming  quiet 
spirit,  but  with  untiring  devotion  and  self-effacement. 
She  worked  here  ten  years  for  Christ.  The  Koreans, 
whom  she  had  loved  so  well  and  served  so  faithfully,  bore 
her  to  her  grave  and  laid  her  beside  her  husband.  We  all 
felt  that  the  loss  to  the  work  was  beyond  expression,  and 
from  a  human  view  point  irreparable. 

In  the  following  fall  we  visited  Pyeng  Yang  for  the  first 
time  since  our  wedding  journey  in  1889.  The  annual 
meeting  of  all  the  mission  (now  grown  quite  extensive) 
for  the  discussion  and  settlement  of  plans  for  work  for  the 
coming  year  was  to  be  held  there ;  so  we  all  risked  our  lives 
on  a  crazy  little  steamer,  which,  however,  contrary  to 
probabilities,  landed  us  safely  not  far  from  our  destination. 

Great  were  the  changes  we  beheld.  Missionaries  in 
comfortable  pleasant  homes,  a  large  church  (paid  for  with 
native  money),  newly  built,  able  to  accommodate  nearly 
two  thousand  people,  and  great  gatherings  of  simple 
earnest  farmer  folk,  which  it  did  one's  soul  good  to  see 
and  hear.  To  us,  who  on  our  last  visit  looked  on  that 
great  waste  of  heathenism,  and  discussed  the  advisability, 
or  otherwise,  of  starting  a  sub-station  there,  it  was  almost 
overwhelming.  To  us,  one  of  whom  at  least  had  come  to 
the  country  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  history  of  our 
Protestant  missions,  and  to  whom  in  the  light  of  the 
records  of  work  in  other  fields  the  task  looked  so  stupen- 
dous, so  overwhelming,  to  find  here  in  the  far  interior  the 
wonderful  evidences  of  the  power  and  goodness  of  God 
filled  our  hearts  with  joy  and  awe.  How  could  we  ever 
shrink  or  doubt,  or  fear  again,  or  do  aught  but  ascribe 
"glory  and  honor,  dominion  and  power,  to  him  who  sits 
upon  the  throne  and  to  the  lamb  for  ever." 

I  regret  that  I  have  not  personally  seen  more  of  the 
work  of  God  in  northern  Whang  Hai  and  in  Pyeng  Yang 


232      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

provinces,  so  that  I  might  give  interesting  incidents  which 
would  put  my  readers  more  in  touch  with  the  Christians 
there,  but  I  copy  from  the  reports  of  Pyeng  Yang  and 
Syen  Chyun  stations  for  the  year  1901  and  1902  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"In  the  whole  territory  covered  by  this  station,  Pyeng 
Yang,  there  are  3,100  baptized  adults,  3,737  catechumens 
enrolled,  and  over  12,000  who  attend  more  or  less  regu- 
larly and  in  various  ways  come  in  touch  with  the  gospel. 
The  total  number  baptized  this  year  is  642,  and  the  num- 
ber of  catechumens  received  1,363.  There  are  in  the  Pyeng 
Yang  city  church  1,153  members  and  catechumens,  with  a 
congregation  of  from  i  ,200  to  i  ,600  on  the  Sabbath. 

"There  are  besides  this  eight  country  circuits,  including 
Ool  Yul  circuit,  in  the  Seoul  station  work,  and  184  out-sta- 
tions, with  5,684  members  and  catechumens. 

"There  are  40  primary  schools,  one  academy  and  42 
teachers — 37  men  and  5  women — with  an  attendance  of 
740  pupils.  Thirteen  schools  were  organized  this  year. 
All  the  country  schools  but  one  are  self-supporting,  and 
that  nearly  so.  There  were  9,094  persons  in  attendance  at 
the  hospital,  also  a  medical  class  consisting  of  4  members. 

"Apart  from  those  held  in  Pyeng  Yang,  107  special 
Bible  classes  were  held,  bringing  about  2,300  under  in- 
struction ;  20  were  taught  by  the  missionaries,  87  by  native 
helpers  and  leaders.  All  these  classes  were  carried  on  at 
the  expense  of  the  Koreans. 

"There  are  now  136  chapels,  21  having  been  built  this 
year,  at  a  cost  of  5,367  nyang  contributed  by  the  Christians 
unaided. 

"The  total  native  contributions  for  all  purposes  (ex- 
cluding the  hospital)  amount  to  43,949  nyang,  about  5,860 
yen  (or  $2,930  United  States  gold). 

"The  working  force  to  look  after  and  carry  on  this  work 


SOME   INTERESTING   FIGURES  233 

consists  of  7  ordained  missionaries  (one  on  furlough  and 
one  newly  arrived  on  the  field),  one  medical  missionary,  4 
single  lady  missionaries  and  7  wives  of  missionaries. 

"There  are  also  21  unordained  native  preachers  or  help- 
ers, 7  Bible  women  and  15  colporters  and  other  assistants 
doing  evangelistic  work." 

From  the  general  report  of  the  Syen  Chyun  station  for 
1901-2  I  also  quote,  "We  now  have  organized  groups  in 
15  of  the  21  counties  of  the  province,  and  believers  in  at 
least  4  more  of  the  other  6.  The  groups  that  have  been 
organized  by  a  missionary's  visit,  and  organized  with  a 
separate  roll  and  church  officers,  number  44,  but  there  are 
at  least  8  other  places  where  Christians  gather  for  worship 
every  Sabbath,  and  where  the  helpers  visit  regularly. 

"The  number  of  persons  baptized  during  the  year,  July 
to  July,  was  267,  which  is  the  largest  ingathering  we  have 
yet  been  permitted  to  see  in  one  year.  All  of  these  267, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  3  or  4  old  persons,  had  been 
catechumens  on  probation  for  at  least  a  year.  The  harvest 
would  have  been  much  larger  had  it  been  possible  to  visit 
the  western  Eui  Ju  Circuit  this  spring,  where  a  very  large 
number  of  candidates  are  waiting  for  baptism. 

"The  number  of  infants  baptized  was  15.  The  number 
of  catechumens  received  amounted  to  696.  All  of  these 
had  been  believers  at  least  for  two  months,  and  in  most 
cases  for  a  very  much  longer  time,  and  were  received  only 
after  a  very  careful  examination,  under  which,  at  the  very 
lowest  estimate,  150  candidates  were  deferred.  During 
the  same  time  5  church  members  were  suspended  and  5 
excommunicated,  and  16  catechumens  dropped. 

"July  first,  therefore,  there  were  on  the  church  rolls  677 
church  members,  25  baptized  infants  and  1,340  catechu- 
mens, or  a  total  of  2,042  enrolled  Christians,  who  with  the 
unenrolled  believers  make  a  total  of  3,429  adherents  in  all. 


234      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

But  of  the  above  church  members,  n  are  under  suspen- 
sion, and  8  more,  unless  they  show  signs  of  repentance, 
will  be  disciplined  when  the  missionary  next  visits  their 
groups.  These  19  amount  to  2.8  per  cent  of  the  church 
membership.  Amongst  the  1,340  catechumens  there  are 
109,  or  8.1  per  cent,  whose  names  are  retained  on  the 
books,  although  at  present  they  have  lost  their  interest  in 
Christianity.  Experience  has  taught  us  that  it  is  well  to 
retain  such  for  at  least  three  years,  unless  they  have  been 
guilty  of  some  grave  sin  whereby  the  church  is  brought 
into  disrepute,  as  many  of  them  coming  under  some  new 
influences  are  often  won  back  to  a  Christian  life." 

The  above  quotations  show  how  the  church  is  growing, 
and,  especially  the  Pyeng  Yang  report,  how  well  they  are 
giving  both  in  labor  and  money  for  the  support  of  the 
gospel,  and  for  its  advancement  among  their  heathen 
neighbors.  I  will  also  insert  a  paragraph  taken  from  the 
above  report  for  the  same  year,  on  the  subject  of  self- 
support. 

"Just  as  soon  as  the  native  church  produces  ordained 
pastors  she  must  support  them.  For  this  the  church  is 
being  prepared.  In  this  station  but  one  helper  is  entirely 
supported  with  foreign  money,  and  four  or  five  receive  a 
part  only;  all  the  rest  of  our  unordained  preachers  or 
helpers  are  entirely  supported  by  the  native  church.  With 
a  single  exception,  all  of  the  thirty-five  country  schools 
are  entirely  supported  by  the  native  groups  where  such 
schools  are  carried  on.  It  has  long  since  been  the  rule  for 
the  native  Christians  to  provide  their  own  house  of  wor- 
ship, the  only  exception  being  a  few  cases  where  a  little 
help  seemed  wise.  Every  possible  means  is  being  em- 
ployed to  develop  the  same  idea  in  the  academy,  thus  put- 
ting the  highest  possible  value  upon  education,  creating 
the  sentiment  that  it  is  an  acquirement  for  which  the 


NATIVES  APPEAL  FOR  TEACHERS  235 

student  may  well  labor  or  pay.  It  is  being  appreciated,  too, 
so  far  as  it  has  been  acquired  at  a  respectable  cost.  Even 
the  hospital  is  on  a  fair  way  to  become  self-supporting  to 
the  extent  of  paying  for  medicines  and  treatment. 

"In  every  way  the  Korean  Christians  have  shown  them- 
selves not  only  able,  even  during  a  famine  year,  but  also 
willing  to  bear  their  share  along  the  line  of  support.  They 
have  not  only  borne  the  running  expenses  of  the  various 
groups,  supported  their  own  country  primary  schools,  con- 
tributed to  the  academy,  paid  the  salaries  of  the  unor- 
dained  preachers,  sent  representatives  to  the  training 
classes  at  Pyeng  Yangr  and  delegates  to  the  council  at 
Seoul,  but  have  given  a  considerable  amount  to  help  the 
poor  and  contributed  liberally  to  the  Committee  of  Mis- 
sions." 

One  more  extract  from  these  reports,  that  of  Miss 
Chase  of  Syen  Chyun,  I  feel  must  not  be  omitted.  It 
ought  to  touch  the  heart  of  every  Christian  woman  who 
reads  it.  It  is  as  follows : 

"There  are  199  baptized  and  588  catechumen  women, 
and  as  a  conservative  estimate  1,200  Christian  women,  in 
north  Pyeng  An  province.  I  have  been  able  to  go  to  the 
merest  fraction  of  this  number.  Those  whom  I  have  met 
are  much  that  we  desire  to  have  them  be,  and  much  not  to 
be  desired,  but  as  I  think  of  them  individually  and  collec- 
tively, every  other  thought  is  eclipsed  by  the  deep  impres- 
sions they  have  made  upon  me  by  their  yearning  to  be 
taught.  The  need  for  another  for  this  field  speaks  for  it- 
self. We  request  the  mission  to  consider  the  urgent  need. 
In  some  places  there  has  been  manifest  murmuring  among 
the  people.  They  say  they  have  waited  long  for  a  visit 
from  their  pastor,  they  have  waited  long  to  receive  the  ex- 
amination for  the  catechumenate,  they  have  waited  long 
for  a  woman  to  teach  them.  Every  time  that  women  come 


236      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

in  from  distant  places  they  beseech  me  to  promise  to  visit 
their  groups  the  next  time  I  leave  Syen  Chyun. 

"Many  a  woman  who  has  attended  my  classes  has  said 
with  tear-stained  face,  'As  for  believing,  I  believe.  I  am 
clinging  to  Christ  for  salvation.  I  have  no  desire  for  any 
trust  but  in  him,  but  I  am  so  ignorant.  I  know  so  little 
about  my  Bible.  I  know  not  how  to  read  its  thoughts  with 
my  dark  mind.  I  know  so  little  about  the  great  Jesus 
doctrine.  How  can  God  be  pleased  to  call  me  his  child, 
when  I  know  not  how  to  glorify  him  ?'  They  say  the  men 
stand  out  far  on  the  other  side  of  the  curtain*  and  teach 
great  and  wonderful  things  which  they  cannot  compre- 
hend, but  a  woman  can  sit  in  their  midst  and  listen  to  all 
of  their  unlearned  questions,  and  they  are  not  ashamed  to 
let  a  patient  woman  see  how  little  they  know !  It  is  not 
easy  to  hear  these  heart-felt  burdens  and  be  helpless  to 
meet  their  need  in  any  adequate  manner." 


*  Churches  are  divided  by  a  curtain  down  the  center,  with 
men  on  one  side  and  women  on  the  other.  The  preacher  can 
see  both  sides. 


CHAPTER   XV 

Another  Itineration — Christians  in  Eul  Yul — A  Ride  in  an  Ox- 
Cart — Keeping  the  Cow  in  the  Kitchen — Ox-Carts  and 
Mountain  Roads — The  Island  of  White  Wing — A  Midnight 
Meeting — Thanksgiving  Day  in  Sorai — The  Circular  Orders 
— New  Testament  Finished — All  in  the  Day's  Work — The 
Korean  Noble — Meetings  of  the  Nobility. 

WE  left  Pyeng  Yang  about  the  26th  of  September,  1900, 
by  one  of  the  toy  Japanese  steamers,  and  reached  Chi- 
nampo,  a  half- Japanese,  half-Korean  port,  at  night.  We 
were  accompanied  by  three  young  ladies,  one  of  whom,  a 
new  arrival,  wished  to  study  methods ;  one  who  needed  the 
bracing  effect  of  out-of-door  country  life  in  the  north  for  a 
few  weeks ;  and  one  who  had  previously  arranged  with  me 
to  carry  on  a  women's  training  class  in  Eul  Yul  that  fall. 
We  were  obliged  to  spend  the  night  in  Chinampo,  but  ar- 
riving late,  we  did  not  know  where  to  find  an  inn,  till  we 
met  an  old  friend,  Rev.  Mr.  Smart,  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land mission,  who  kindly  found  us  a  Japanese  hotel.  Here, 
after  telling  them  our  nationality,  our  ages,  our  condition, 
past  lives  and  future  intentions,  and  having  been  forced  in 
spite  of  all  protests  to  remove  our  shoes,  they  conde- 
scended to  receive  us  as  guests,  at  an  outrageous  price. 
We  must  not  use  our  own  camp  beds,  but  the  mats  which 
had  served  no  one  knew  whom  before  us ;  nor  might  we 
have  water  in  our  rooms,  but  must  perform  all  our  ablu- 
tions in  the  public  hall  on  the  lower  floor. 

Next  morning  we  gladly  bade  our  too  particular  hosts 
farewell,  and  crossed  the  river  in  a  wretched  old  junk, 


238      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

which  looked  as  if  it  were  on  the  brink  of  dissolution. 
Fortunately,  the  weather  was  fine  and  mild,  and  the  river 
calm,  else  I  am  sure  we  should  all  have  been  dipped,  for 
even  I  had  never  yet  beheld  so  dilapidated  a  craft.  We 
were  all  day  on  the  river,  only  able  to  land  after  dark, 
thanks  partly  to  the  nature  of  our  vessel  and  partly  to  the 
tides,  for  which  we  were  forced  to  wait  before  landing. 

The  following  night  was  hot,  the  inns  nothing  more  or 
less  than  ovens,  and  morning  found  us  all  in  an  unusually 
wilted  condition,  and  to  add  to  the  general  misery,  the 
young  ladies  of  our  party  had  made  important  additions  to 
their  luggage,  which  threw  us  all  four  into  the  utmost  con- 
sternation. That  evening  we  reached  Eul  Yul,  where  both 
men's  and  women's  classes  were  to  be  held.  As  usual  the 
people  crowded  in  to  meet  us  as  soon  as  we  arrived.  Al- 
though harvesting  was  on  and  it  was  one  of  the  busiest 
times  of  the  year,  quite  a  number  of  women  came  to  study 
with  us.  They  were  so  bright  and  receptive,  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  teach  them.  I  had  some  very  interesting  visits 
with  the  women  in  their  own  homes,  and  was  edified  to  see 
the  bright  and  practical  way  in  which  the  Christian  who 
accompanied  us  talked  with  some  of  the  unbelievers.  One 
woman  was  hesitating,  fearing  she  was  too  ignorant  or  too 
wicked  to  receive  salvation,  to  which  our  native  friend 
said,  "Why,  if  you  are  hungry,  and  a  bowl  of  rice  is  set  be- 
fore you,  you  eat  right  then,  and  just  so  if  you  want  sal- 
vation, you  have  only  to  take  and  eat." 

The  listener's  eyes  filled  with  tears,  it  seemed  too  good. 
All  the  time  we  were  talking,  another  Christian  woman  sat 
with  bowed  head  asking  God's  blessing  on  the  word.  In 
the  examination  of  applicants  for  baptism,  I  was  much  in- 
terested to  see  how  carefully  our  native  leaders  questioned 
them.  ''You  say  you  sin  daily,  but  ask  God  to  forgive,  and 
so  have  a  happy  and  calm  mind.  Is  it  then  no  matter  that 


CHRISTIANS   IN   EUL   YUL  239 

you  sin  ?"  Again,  to  a  woman  who  said  her  past  sins  were 
forgiven,  and  her  present  sins  were  confessed  every  day, 
he  said,  "Well,  then,  what  sin  have  you  committed  to- 
day?" She  could  or  would  only  speak  in  a  general  way, 
and  after  various  questions,  mentioned  nothing  in  par- 
ticular. "But,"  said  Kim,  "is  that  honoring  God,  to  go  and 
confess  you  have  sinned,  and  ask  him  to  forgive  you  know 
not  what?"  On  Sunday  twenty  people  were  baptized. 
During  the  communion  service  all  eyes  were  streaming, 
and  some  sobbed  like  children  at  the  thought  of  what  the 
Lord  had  suffered  for  them. 

In  the  afternoon  our  native  elder,  Mr.  Saw,  gave  us  a 
delightful  illustrated  Bible  lesson  on  the  Christian  armor, 
with  illustrations  drawn  and  colored  by  himself,  and  with 
most  appropriate  references.  The  native  Christian  was 
first  represented  in  ordinary  dress  all  unarmed,  and  in  suc- 
ceeding pictures,  one  after  another  of  the  needed  articles, 
helmet,  shield,  sandals,  breastplate  and  sword  were  added. 
These  illustrations  were  unique  to  the  last  degree  and  ex- 
tremely well  drawn.  In  the  evening  an  experience  meet- 
ing was  held,  when  one  after  another  told  what  the  Lord 
had  done  for  them.  Some  had  been  the  slaves  of  drink, 
and  had  fallen  again  and  again  after  repeated  attempts  to 
resist,  in  their  own  strength,  but  now  for  years  had  been 
free  men  in  Christ,  and  were  looked  upon  as  miracles  of 
grace  by  their  friends  and  neighbors. 

One  man  told  something  of  his  home  life.  He  had  been 
a  dissolute  gambling  fellow,  whose  reputation  was  well 
known  through  all  the  surrounding  counties.  When  he 
went  home  at  night,  after  days  of  absence  and  dissipation, 
his  angry  wife  would  scold  and  reproach  him,  and  he  in 
return  would  beat  and  maltreat  the  poor  little  woman.  "It 
was  all  misery  and  discomfort,  but  now,  all  peace  and 
love."  A  neighbor  who  came  in  often  remarked  on  this 


240      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

exceptionally  happy  home  life,  wishing  hopelessly  for 
something  like  it  in  her  lot.  She  could  not  believe  the 
happy  wife  when  she  told  her  it  had  once  been  so  different, 
and  that  all  this  came  through  Jesus. 

Then  Mrs.  Kim  called  in  her  husband  and  bade  him 
tell  if  this  was  true.  "Why,"  said  he,  "I'll  do  more,  I'll 
give  my  bond  for  it,  bring  paper  and  pen  and  I'll  write  a 
bond  to  any  amount  you  choose  to  name,  that  if  Jesus 
comes  into  your  home  there'll  be  peace  there."  "Why," 
said  he,  "people  say  if  the  Lord  were  only  here  now  to  do 
some  of  his  miracles  every  one  would  believe,  but  I  tell  you 
the  Lord  is  doing  greater  miracles  now  than  he  ever  did 
on  earth  when  he  takes  a  vile  wretch  like  me  and  changes 
his  heart."  One  man  had  been  afflicted  with  an  apparently 
incurable  disease  for  over  forty  years,  and  now  the  Lord 
had  healed  him ;  and  one  had  been  such  a  liar  that  no  one 
believed  his  honest  statements,  and  yet  now  was  implicitly 
trusted  by  every  one. 

It  was  decided  before  we  left  Eul  Yul  that  the  native 
Christians  of  that  district  should  employ  two  helpers  or 
evangelists  to  work  among  the  ignorant  believers  of  that 
vicinity,  and  that  twelve  Bible  or  training  classes  should 
be  held  in  the  different  districts  in  that  province  during 
the  year,  six  to  be  in  charge  of  Mr.  Saw,  and  six  taught  by 
Mr.  Kim  Yun  Oh,  our  most  intelligent  leader.  From  Eul 
Yul  we  went  to  Pung  Chun,  while  Mr.  Underwood  visited 
several  smaller  places  more  difficult  of  access.  Miss 
Chase  and  I  divided  the  meetings,  and  were  most  thought- 
fully and  attentively  heard,  the  little  room  being  packed 
whenever  we  announced  a  service. 

Our  quarters  were  not  of  the  best,  as  the  only  place  as- 
signed us  for  preparing  our  food  was  a  little  corner  of 
the  cow's  stable.  We  have  heard  of  people  who  "keep  the 
pig  in  the  kitchen,"  but  to  keep  the  cow  there  was  certainly 


THE  COW   IN   THE  KITCHEN  241 

a  degree  worse  than  our  flightiest  fancy,  and  we  at  length 
rebelled,  with  the  result  that  a  more  sanitary  place  was 
found  for  our  culinary  performances. 

After  Mr.  Underwood  arrived,  eleven  people  were  bap- 
tized here.  The  first  public  service  for  all  was  held  in  a 
hired  room  in  the  largest  inn  in  the  place.  The  chief  man, 
after  listening  to  all  that  had  been  said,  arose  and  spoke 
to  the  crowd  as  follows :  "We  all  know  that  what  we  have 
heard  is  true,  there  is  nothing  left  for  us  to  say  but  that 
from  to-day  on  we  will  believe."  Some  of  the  men  who 
attended  this  meeting  remained  outside  the  door  at  first, 
unwilling  to  be  seen  in  such  company,  as  they  were  re- 
spectable gentlemen.  After  listening  awhile  they  conde- 
scended to  step  inside,  and  before  the  service  was  over 
they  had  seated  themselves  in  the  front  row,  and  admitted 
it  was  very  good. 

Aside  from  our  kitchen  arrangements,  and  a  little 
anxiety  lest  the  cow  should  conclude  to  visit  us  in  our 
bedroom  at  night,  and  the  persistent  cock  crowing  at  my 
head  from  two  in  the  morning,  we  had  a  lovely  time  at 
Pung  Chun. 

Again  at  one  of  the  little  villages  up  in  the  mountains 
some  of  our  chair  coolies  deserted  us,  and  there  was 
nothing  left  for  it  but  for  our  two  young  ladies  to  ride  in 
an  ox-cart.  They  were  a  little  doubtful  about  this  new 
mode  of  procedure,  but  the  Koreans  assured  us  it  was 
quite  safe,  and  as  our  little  son  had  traveled  miles  that 
way,  we  encouraged  them  to  try  it,  especially  as  it  was  a 
last  resort.  So  with  many  misgivings  they  perched  them- 
selves on  top  of  the  loads,  and  the  ox,  a  great  spirited  ani- 
mal, was  brought  up.  When  Miss  Chase  asked  if  he  was 
to  be  trusted,  they  assured  her  with  the  statement  that  he 
could  fight  any  ox  in  the  country.  It  was  supposed  a  good 
deal  of  harnessing  would  follow,  but  when  a  noose  was 


242      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

merely  slipped  over  a  hook,  and  with  no  warning  the  steed 
literally  galloped  off,  we  were  all  somewhat  startled,  and 
the  young  ladies  gave  themselves  up,  with  such  a  team 
running  away. 

The  ox-cart  is  extremely  primitive,  its  two  wheels  have 
only  the  clumsiest  attempt  at  heavy  wooden  tires.  The 
soft  mud  roads  are  full  of  deep  ruts,  so  that  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances  the  bumping  and  jolting  are 
unspeakable.  When  therefore  their  mettlesome  animal 
was  at  length  of  a  mind  to  pause  a  little  in  his  mad  career, 
they  lost  no  time  in  the  order  of  their  descent  from  that 
vehicle,  and  started  off  at  a  brisk  pace,  evidently  decided  to 
walk  all  the  way  back  to  Seoul  rather  than  jeopardize 
their  lives  in  such  a  contrivance  and  behind  such  a  creature 
again.  However,  the  way  was  long,  and  before  night  they 
changed  their  minds  and  resigned  themselves  to  the  ox- 
cart, when  his  bovine  spirits  were  a  little  subdued  by  his 
journey,  and  he  was  somewhat  less  light  and  frisky  than 
in  the  morning. 

We  arrived  at  Chil  Pong,  one  of  the  villages  perched 
up  in  the  mountains,  early  in  the  evening,  but  not  so  our 
loads,  which  the  country  people  manage  in  some  miracu- 
lous way  to  drag  up  the  steep  mountain  roads  on  the  ox- 
carts. 

It  turned  out  that  the  ox-cart  in  use  that  day  was  a 
very  weak  one  and  gave  out  entirely,  breaking  down  half 
way  up  the  mountain.  Another  had  to  be  brought  from  a 
distance,  and  long  delays  ensued,  where  the  average  speed 
is  a  snail's  pace,  in  spite  of  the  experience  with  the  lively 
animal  the  day  before.  Fortunately  by  this  time  we  had 
obtained  more  coolies  for  the  young  ladies,  so  that  our 
party  were  all  together ;  the  little  son  having  become  such 
a  walker  that  he  seldom  patronized  either  chair  or  cart, 
and  often  walked  twenty  miles  a  day.  One  of  the  helpers, 


THE    BEAUTIES   OF   THE   MOUNTAINS         243 

Mr.  Shin,  said,  as  he  came  up  with  the  loads,  supperless 
and  quite  tired  out,  at  twelve  o'clock  that  night,  that  had  it 
not  been  that  he  was  determined  the  pastor's  wife  must 
not  go  without  her  bed  and  pillows,  the  cart  would  not 
have  arrived  at  all.  So  tenderly  do  the  people  care  for  the 
needs  of  their  teachers. 

We  found  the  mountains  more  beautiful,  if  possible, 
than  ever.  It  was  October,  and  hills  that  in  the  previous 
spring  were  rosy  with  rhododendrons  and  peach  blossoms, 
were  now  scarlet,  gold  and  purple  with  the  magnificence 
of  autumn  foliage,  asters  and  golden-rod.  There  was  dis- 
played on  all  sides  some  of  the  most  brilliant  coloring  I 
ever  saw.  There  were  quantities  of  bitter-sweet  wreath- 
ing all  over  trees  and  rocks,  berries  of  many  varieties,  and 
bushes  reminding  me  of  that  which  Moses  saw  in  Horeb, 
burning  but  not  consumed.  And  though  in  a  different 
way,  still  I  too  felt  that  the  ground  was  holy  with  the  un- 
seen but  felt  presence,  and  that  it  would  be  well  to  re- 
move one's  worldly  shoes,  which  figuratively  I  did. 

A  few  days  later  we  crossed  a  mountain  pass  at  over  two 
thousand  feet  elevation,  where  we  found  the  scenery  more 
and  more  beautiful  and  wild.  The  gallant  and  unwearied 
"Captain"  almost  carried  the  rheumatic  partner  of  his 
travels  up  the  last  steep  ascent.  The  alternative  was  to  sit 
in  a  chair  and  trust  one's  self  to  a  couple  of  tired  coolies, 
who  might  stumble  and  dash  one  to  atoms ;  or  with  chi- 
pangi  (alpenstock)  in  hand,  slowly  drag  one's  self  up 
and  then  down  over  the  rocks  and  steep  slippery  road. 
Arriving  at  the  foot  on  the  other  side,  we  were  once  again 
in  dear  Sorai,  where  a  good  hot  floor  soon  took  out  all  the 
pain  and  weariness. 

It  had  been  decided  that  from  Sorai  we  were  to  visit  a 
certain  island  called  Pang  Yeng,  or  "White  Wing,"  where 
quite  a  number  of  people  were  believing  through  the  teach- 


244      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

ing  of  some  of  the  natives.  The  story  is  worth  telling.  A 
man,  who  had  been  banished  to  this  island  for  a  political 
offense,  had  received  a  Christian  book  from  his  nephew,  a 
Methodist,  just  before  his  departure.  The  young  man 
told  his  uncle  that  this  religion  was  the  basis  of  all  civil 
liberty  and  civilization,  so  that  the  banished  man  in  his 
loneliness  proceeded  to  read  it,  and  to  publish  and  teach 
its  doctrines  among  the  islanders.  He  had  been  informed 
that  on  the  opposite  shore  at  Sorai  lived  people  who  could 
further  explain  the  book  and  its  doctrines,  so  one  of  the 
natives,  the  oldest  and  most  honorable  in  the  village,  made 
a  trip  to  Sorai,  and  begged  Elder  Saw  to  return  with  him 
and  teach  them. 

They  were  lamentably  ignorant,  and  while  believing  in 
Jesus  were  still  carrying  on  heathen  worship ;  they  were  as 
blind  people  only  partly  restored,  who  saw  men  as  trees 
walking.  Saw  was  not  able  to  go  at  once,  but  after  some 
time,  when  he  visited  them,  he  found  the  whole  village  as- 
sembled with  all  preparations  made  for  offering  their 
heathen  sacrifices.  He  talked  to  them  very  earnestly  and 
faithfully,  and  they  then  at  once  gave  up  all  their  idola- 
trous worship,  and  in  a  body  promised  only  to  serve  the 
one  true  God. 

The  elder  could  not,  however,  remain  long,  and  several 
months  later,  when  Mrs.  Kim,  the  indefatigable  voluntary 
evangelist,  visited  them,  she  found  that  many  of  them 
seemed  to  have  fallen  back  almost  completely  into  old 
practices  and  beliefs.  At  first  no  one  would  receive  her  in 
their  homes,  but  she  talked  to  the  women  outside  the 
houses  so  sweetly  and  winningly,  that  they  at  length  in- 
vited her  in,  and  gathered  around  her  to  listen.  A  great 
change  was  wrought  through  her  teaching. 

We  made  the  trip  in  a  little  Korean  sailing  junk,  which 
was  rather  small  and  uncomfortable  for  bad  weather,  but 


THE   ISLAND   OF   WHITE   WING  245 

not  at  all  out  of  the  way  on  such  a  day  as  that  on  which  we 
started,  with  blue  sky  above,  blue  and  sparkling  water  be- 
low, and  charming  islands  studding  the  sea  like  jewels. 

We  found  that  White  Wing  measured  about  twenty 
miles  round  the  coast  line  and  was  nine  miles  long,  with  a 
capital  and  several  hamlets.  It  is  extremely  beautiful  and 
fertile,  well  fortified  by  bold  picturesque  cliffs  along  the 
coast,  with  delightful  valleys  and  gently  rolling  country 
snugly  nestled  behind  them.  The  people  are  all  farmers, 
living  in  the  simplest  and  most  primitive  way.  Money  is 
rarely  seen,  there  is  indeed  no  need  for  it,  with  no  fairs  or 
stores.  Their  wants  are  few,  they  raise  what  they  need 
for  food,  clothing,  warmth  and  light  on  their  little  farms, 
bartering  among  each  other  to  supply  such  simple  articles 
as  their  own  labor  has  not  provided. 

All  appeared  to  have  plenty  of  rice  and  firewood,  and  to 
be  quite  content.  Drunkenness  and  dishonesty  are  almost 
unknown.  The  magistrate  told  us  they  rarely  needed  even 
the  slightest  punishment,  but  were  as  they  seemed  to  us, 
a  gentle,  kindly,  simple,  honest  farmer  and  fisher  folk. 

We  found  a  small  church  built  on  the  hillside,  and  a 
little  company  of  believers,  who  were  waiting  for  exami- 
nation and  baptism.  Although  very  ignorant,  they  were 
most  anxious  to  be  taught,  and  Mrs.  Kim,  who  had  gone 
with  me  from  Sorai,  and  I  were  kept  busy  instructing  the 
women.  Like  the  women  everywhere  in  Korea,  they 
especially  enjoyed  the  hymns,  and  were  most  eager  to 
learn  them.  The  words  were  comparatively  easy,  but  the 
tunes  were  quite  another  matter.  We  realized  the  ad- 
vantage in  their  learning  them,  both  as  a  means  of  fixing 
divine  truth  and  publishing  it  to  others. 

We  were  to  leave  very  early  in  the  morning  to  catch  the 
tide,  and  the  night  before  we  had  a  farewell  service  in  the 
little  church.  When  this  was  over,  and  good-byes  said,  I 


246      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

went  to  the  tiny  room  to  pack  our  belongings,  and  Mr. 
Underwood  to  one  of  the  Christian  houses  to  give  last  di- 
rections and  counsel  with  the  leaders.  About  ten  o'clock 
Mrs.  Kim  came  to  my  door  with  one  of  the  women,  asking 
very  humbly  if  I  would  go  to  one  of  their  homes  and  teach 
them  a  little  more  this  one  last  time,  though  it  was  late. 
"We  are  so  ignorant  and  have  none  to  guide  and  teach 
us,"  said  they  pathetically.  Of  course  I  was  delighted  to 
go,  and  followed  them  to  a  farmer's  thatched  cottage.  It 
was  one  of  the  poorest  and  rudest  of  the  native  homes ;  in 
one  corner  a  farm  hand  was  lying  asleep,  in  another  a  tiny 
wick  burning  in  a  saucer  of  oil  was  the  only  light  in  the 
room.  We  sat  down  under  this,  and  the  poor,  rough, 
hard-working  women  clustered  round  us  as  closely  as 
possible.  Their  faces  and  hands  bore  the  marks  of  care, 
toil,  hard  lives  and  few  joys,  but  they  were  lighted  with  a 
glorious  hope  which  transformed  them,  and  this  with  the 
awakening  desire  for  knowledge  had  banished  the  look  of 
wooden  stolidity,  which  so  many  Korean  women  wear. 

While  we  talked  of  our  Lord  and  his  teachings  and 
conned  again  and  again  the  hymns,  a  cough  was  heard  at 
the  door,  and  it  was  found  that  a  number  of  "the  brethren" 
were  standing  out  there  in  the  cold,  frosty  air  of  the 
November  night,  listening  to  such  scraps  of  good  words  as 
they  could  catch.  So  when  one  of  the  women  asked  if  they 
might  come  in,  although  generally  out  of  regard  for  Ko- 
rean custom  and  prejudice,  I  not  only  teach  no  men,  but 
keep  as  much  out  of  sight  as  possible,  there  were  on  this 
occasion  no  two  ways  about  it,  they  must  come,  and  in 
they  thronged.  It  was  a  picture  which  I  shall  never  for- 
get, the  dark  eager  faces,  every  one  leaning  forward  in 
eager  attitude,  all  seeking  more  knowledge  of  divine  truth, 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness.  A  little 
dim  humble  room,  and  only  such  a  poor  feeble  wick  to 


A  MIDNIGHT  MEETING  247 

light  them  all.  Such  a  poor  feeble  wick  was  I,  and  all 
were  looking  to  me  for  God's  light.  "Feed  my  lambs," 
was  his  last  command,  and  yet  in  many  a  hut  and  hamlet 
his  hungry  little  ones  are  starving. 

Next  morning  at  the  first  streak  of  dawn  they  again 
came,  and  with  tears  streaming  down  their  faces,  begged 
me  to  come  soon  again.  "Oh,  we  are  so  ignorant,  and  so 
weak,  how  can  we  escape  the  snares  of  Satan,  with  no  one 
here  to  lead  and  teach  us !"  they  exclaimed. 

Our  return  trip  was  very  different  from  our  first  cross- 
ing. A  severe  storm  of  wind  and  rain  came  up,  the  little 
ship  was  tossed  about  on  the  waves  like  a  plaything,  and 
Mrs.  Kim  and  I  were  miserably  sick,  not  to  mention  being 
drenched  with  rain.  It  was  impossible  to  make  our  port, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  attempt  the  nearest  coast,  which 
offered  no  shelter  from  the  wind,  in  addition  to  which,  the 
tide  being  out,  our  boat  was  bumped  about  mercilessly  on 
the  rocks  and  stones  with  no  chance  of  a  landing  for  some 
hours. 

However,  all  things  come  to  an  end  sometime,  and  we  at 
length  effected  a  safe  landing,  and  were  soon  dried, 
warmed  and  fed  in  a  fishing  village  at  hand,  and  reached 
Sorai  next  day.  Before  we  left  Sorai,  the  Christians  held 
their  annual  Thinksgiving  service.  The  church  being  too 
small  to  hold  all  the  people,  a  tent  was  spread  outside. 
After  thanking  God  for  their  bountiful  harvests  and  grow- 
ing prosperity,  they  offered  thanks  for  the  spiritual  har- 
vest he  had  given. 

During  the  year  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  people  of 
the  neighboring  villages  had  been  baptized  through  the 
missions  and  labors  of  this  one  little  church,  not  counting 
a  much  larger  number  of  catechumens  received.  They  had 
enlarged  and  repaired  their  church  and  school  rooms,  built 
a  house  for  their  school  teacher,  one  for  their  evangelist 


248      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

and  another  for  the  entertainment  of  strangers,  who  come 
from  a  distance  to  the  Sabbath  services. 

They  are  an  open-handed  people,  and  when  they  read 
of  the  famine  in  India  they  took  up  a  collection,  amounting 
to  fifty  yen.  As  their  daily  wage  rarely  amounts  to  more 
than  ten  cents  gold,  and  as  the  community  is  small,  this 
was  a  large  gift.  Several  of  the  women  who  had  no 
money  put  their  heavy  silver  rings  in  the  plate.  These 
rings  are  in  many  cases  their  only  ornaments,  and  are 
most  highly  prized,  so  that  when  they  were  given,  we 
knew  that  our  people  were  giving  till  they  felt  it  deeply. 

In  the  famine  so  severe  in  many  counties  last  year, 
Sorai,  which  was  more  blessed,  helped  many  of  its  sister 
communities.  On  our  return  to  Hai  Ju  we  had  some  in- 
teresting visits  with  the  women  both  in  their  own  homes 
and  at  our  rooms.  We  were  allowed  to  help  prepare  the 
"dock,"  or  bread,  which  we  found  them  making  in  one  of 
the  houses,  for  a  prospective  wedding.  They  were  having 
a  "bee,"  a  number  of  friends  had  come  in  to  help,  and 
they  seemed  much  amused  and  pleased  when  we  asked  to 
be  allowed  to  assist.  We  were  very  clumsy  and  awkward, 
but  we  gained  our  end  by  making  them  feel  we  were  one 
with  them.  Later  we  were  invited  to  the  wedding,  and 
forced  to  swallow  an  amount  of  indigestible  food,  which  at 
other  times  we  should  consider  as  simply  suicidal.  But 
when  it  is  a  duty,  one  simply  shuts  one's  eyes  to  conse- 
quences, takes  all  risks,  and  comes  through  with  an  im- 
munity which  I  verily  believe  is  miraculous. 

One  old  woman,  who  attended  the  meetings  very  regu- 
larly and  was  very  devout,  is  quite  a  character.  With  a 
loud  strong  voice,  but  not  the  remotest  glimmering  of  a 
notion  of  harmony,  time  or  tune,  she  shouts  away  several 
lines  and  bars  before  or  behind  the  rest,  no  consequence 
which,  and  quite  often,  if  the  hymn  chosen  is  not  in  her 


AN  ALARMING  EDICT  249 

book  or  according  to  her  mind,  she  chooses  another  and 
proceeds  as  zealously  as  ever.  When  gently  remon- 
strated with,  she  replies,  "Oh,  that  is  no  matter,  I'm  not 
following  you,  I'm  singing  (?)  by  myself." 

We  had  only  been  in  Hai  Ju  a  few  days  when  a  fleet- 
footed  messenger  from  Eul  Yul  arrived  with  a  letter  con- 
taining the  news  that  a  secret  royal  edict  was  being  sent 
round  to  the  various  magistracies  in  that  province,  com- 
manding all  Confucianists  to  gather  at  night  on  the  second 
of  the  next  month  (about  fifteen  days  later),  each  at  his 
nearest  worshiping  place  in  his  district,  and  from  thence  to 
go  in  a  body  and  kill  all  Westerners  and  followers  of 
Western  doctrine,  and  destroy  their  houses,  churches  and 
schools.  A  friend  in  the  magistrate's  office,  holding  some 
petty  position,  happened  to  be  present  when  this  arrived, 
noted  the  excitement  and  agitation  which  the  official 
evinced  on  reading  it  and  the  care  with  which  it  was 
guarded,  and  determined  to  learn  its  contents.  He  con- 
trived an  opportunity  to  read  it  unseen,  and  as  some  of  his 
near  relatives  were  Christians,  he  at  once  communicated 
the  terrible  news  to  them.  One  of  the  same  family,  a 
young  man  who  was  a  fleet-footed  runner,  was  instantly 
sent  to  us  with  a  copy  of  the  edict. 

No  words  can  express  our  state  of  mind  on  receiving 
the  news.  Thought  flew  back  to  one  peaceful  little  com- 
munity after  another,  which  we  had  so  lately  visited,  all 
rejoicing  in  the  beautiful  new  life,  all  growing  up  toward 
Christ,  like  flowers  reaching  up  to  the  sun,  with  the  light 
of  a  glad  hope  in  their  faces,  happy,  harmless,  kindly  peo- 
ple, the  aged,  the  little  toddling  children,  helpless  women, 
unsuspecting  farmers,  all  consigned  to  utter  destruction. 
As  for  ourselves,  we  were  in  one  of  the  worst  of  Korean 
cities,  it  was  impossible  to  make  the  slightest  movement 
without  attracting  the  notice  of  every  one,  for  we  were 


250      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

constantly  the  center  of  the  observation  of  the  whole  town. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  make  our  escape  if  any  one 
wished  to  detain  us.  To  make  matters  much  worse,  we 
had  two  young  ladies  and  a  child  in  our  party.  Probably 
little  danger  threatened  us  personally,  as  the  governor 
was  friendly,  but  our  first  duty  was  to  send  word  to  the 
American  minister  in  Seoul,  and  it  must  be  done  quickly. 
To  send  a  dispatch  in  any  Eastern  or  European  language 
would  be  futile,  as,  if  suspicion  was  aroused,  there  were 
means  of  interpreting  any  of  them.  We  at  length  con- 
cluded to  send  a  Latin  message,  not  to  our  minister,  but 
to  one  of  our  mission,  as  less  likely  to  attract  attention 
either  in  Hai  Ju  or  Seoul.  This  was  done,  and  the  mes- 
sage was  at  once  carried  to  the  American  legation. 

The  news  was  at  first  received  with  incredulity,  so 
friendly  had  the  attitude  of  the  government  always  been, 
but  when  it  was  remembered  that  recent  Boxer  disturb- 
ances in  China  might  have  suggested  a  similar  course  here, 
and  that  there  were  strong  Buddhists  high  in  influence  at 
the  palace  who  might  have  caused  this  strange  measure, 
and  when  at  the  Foreign  Office,  through  admissions  and 
contradictions,  it  was  made  evident  that  the  circulation  of 
such  an  edict  was  not  unknown  to  them,  all  doubt  was 
over.  Not  long  after  it  developed  that  from  similar 
sources  (that  is,  friends  of  Christians  or  of  missionaries) 
the  news  had  been  carried  to  missionaries  in  Kang  Wha 
and  in  Pyeng  Yang.  That  it  was  unadvisedly  done,  and 
speedily  repented,  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  a  few  days 
later  another  edict  rescinding  the  first  was  sent  every- 
where. Nevertheless  and  notwithstanding,  I  breathed 
freely  and  slept  well  for  the  first  time  since  hearing  the 
bad  news,  when  I  found  myself  on  the  little  Japanese 
steamer  well  started  on  my  way  back  to  Seoul.  The  sup- 
posed authors  of  the  order  were  put  under  arrest,  and  I 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  IN   KOREAN  251 

believe  punished,  the  Korean  officials  vigorously  protest- 
ing that  it  was  all  a  mistake  and  sent  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  king  or  the  government. 

These  trips  to  Whang  Hai  province  usually  occupied 
six  or  eight  weeks  of  our  time,  and  full  of  delightful  inci- 
dents and  experiences  as  they  always  were,  did  not  repre- 
sent more  than  a  fraction  of  the  work.  In  the  fall  of  1900 
the  whole  New  Testament  was  given  to  the  people.  To 
celebrate  this  event  a  large  meeting  was  held  in  the  Metho- 
dist church,  the  largest  audience  hall  in  Seoul,  composed 
of  as  many  natives  and  Christians  as  could  be  packed  with- 
in its  walls.  A  suitable  thanksgiving  service  was  held, 
and  the  board  of  translators  and  their  native  literary 
helpers  were  presented  by  the  American  minister  with 
copies  of  the  book,  with  very  kind  remarks  on  their  work. 
The  board  now  consisted  of  Rev.  H.  G.  Appenzeller,  Dr. 
Scranton,  Rev.  W.  D.  Reynolds,  Rev.  James  S.  Gale  and 
Mr.  Underwood. 

In  addition  to  the  editorship  of  a  weekly  religious 
newspaper,  Bible  translation,  preparation  of  tracts  and 
hymns,  city  training  classes,  weekly  religious  services  and 
meetings,  supervision  of  schools  and  language  class  for 
missionaries,  Mr.  Underwood  felt  that  a  special  effort 
ought  to  be  made  for  the  nobility  and  gentry,  the  hardest 
people  in  the  country  to  reach  with  the  gospel.  This  is 
the  case,  partly  because  officials  who  would  retain  office 
must  go  at  regular  intervals  and  offer  certain  prayers  and 
sacrifices  at  royal  shrines,,  partly  that  the  ideas  of  caste 
are  so  strong  that  the  nobility  are  unwilling  to  seat  them- 
selves on  the  floor  in  our  churches  among  farmers,  ped- 
dlers, coolies,  merchants  or  even  scholars,  to  listen  to  the 
gospel ;  and  in  addition,  that  their  family  life  is  grounded 
and  interwoven  on  and  in  the  concubine  system.  All  of 
them  have  two  or  more  families,  some  of  them  many. 


252      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

These  numerous  wives,  their  parents  and  progeny  would 
make  life  intolerable  should  the  husband  put  them  aside. 
His  friends  and  relatives  would  look  upon  him  as  too  evil 
to  live  should  he  neglect  to  worship  the  ancestral  tablets, 
and  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors  themselves  would  follow 
him  like  harpies,  with  all  sorts  of  misfortunes  and  dis- 
eases. 

Each  man,  too,  looks  forward  with  great  complacency 
to  being  honored  in  his  time  as  he  has  honored  his  dead 
parents,  and  seems  to  be  overwhelmed  with  something 
like  terror  at  the  idea  of  having  no  one  to  worship  his 
memory  and  offer  sacrifices  before  his  tablets,  so  that 
childless  men  usually  adopt  sons  to  keep  their  memory 
green.  The  ladies  of  this  class,  the  first  wives,  are,  as  I 
think  I  have  said  before,  very  closely  secluded,  and  are 
never  seen  except  in  their  own  apartments  or  the  anpang 
of  their  kin,  whither  they  are  carried  in  closely  covered 
chairs. 

In  such  a  state  of  affairs  it  is  not  strange  that  men 
should  hesitate  to  listen  to  the  doctrines  of  a  religion 
which  would  turn  their  whole  social  world  upside  down, 
wreck  their  homes,  cast  upon  them  the  blackest  stigma, 
turn  them  outside  the  pale  of  court  and  official  life,  rob 
them  of  their  income,  and  rank  them  with  the  common 
people.  Knowing  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  induce 
them  to  attend  church,  an  invitation  was  therefore  issued, 
asking  a  large  number  of  them  to  come  to  our  house  to 
talk  over  religious  matters.  To  our  surprise  the  call  was 
most  heartily  responded  to,  and  two  large  rooms  were 
crowded  with  high  Korean  gentlemen,  all  of  whom  came 
no  doubt  from  politeness  or  curiosity. 

There  were  princes,  generals,  members  of  the  cabinet, 
all  men  of  the  highest  rank  and  birth.  All  listened  with 
the  closest  attention,  many  of  them  asking  thoughtful 


A    REMARKABLE    PROPOSITION  253 

questions,  which  showed  their  real  interest  in  what  was 
said  by  the  missionaries  who  came  to  assist  Mr.  Under- 
wood in  receiving  and  talking  with  them.  Some  asked 
for  books,  and  many  came  repeatedly  to  talk  over  these 
matters  in  private.  Meetings  were  held  regularly  Sun- 
day afternoons,  and  a  stereopticon  exhibition  was  given, 
showing  a  series  of  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ. 

One  result  of  these  meetings  was  that  Mr.  Underwood 
was  approached  with  the  suggestion  that  he  should  estab- 
lish a  Presbyterian  state  church.  We  were  told  that  a 
large  number  of  officials  would  prefer  (if  they  were  to  be 
forced  into  giving  up  their  own  religion  and  joining  a  for- 
eign church,  as  at  that  time  seemed  likely)  to  make  it  one 
of  their  own  choosing,  and  connected  with  Americans 
rather  than  Russians.  They  were,  of  course,  informed 
that  we  could  not  organize  churches  in  that  way,  nor  bap- 
tize men  for  state  and  political  purposes.  The  suggestion 
was  not  official,  but  if  we  had  been  willing  to  use  oppor- 
tunities of  this  sort,  the  roll-call  among  the  high  class  of 
nominal  members  might  have  been  greatly  swelled. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

Furloughs — Chong  Dong  Church — Romanists  in  Whang  Hai — 
Missionaries  to  the  Rescue — Romanists  Annoy  and  Hinder 
the  Judge  —  Results  —  Interview  between  Governor  and 
Priest — The  Inspector's  Report — Women's  Work  in  Hai  Ju 
— Deaths  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Miller — 
The  End. 

IN  1901  we  took  another  furlough,  during  which  we 
were  brought  in  touch  with  American  Christians  in  nearly 
every  large  city  in  the  country,  and  thus  were  able  to 
make  the  church  aware  of  God's  wonderful  dealings  in 
Korea  and  to  enlighten  the  public  on  the  needs  of  this 
country.  On  our  return,  we  missed  among  the  faces  of 
dear  old  friends  who  came  to  welcome  us  that  of  our 
work-fellow  and  beloved  brother,  Rev.  H.  G.  Appenzeller. 
Mr.  Appenzeller,  the  first  evangelistic  worker  of  his  mis- 
sion, had  labored  with  my  husband,  heart  and  hand,  for 
over  sixteen  years,  and  they  had  taken  their  earliest  itiner- 
ations to  the  country  in  company.  The  loss  fell  heavily 
upon  both  native  and  foreign  community,  and  seems  to 
grow,  as  we  feel  the  need  of  the  enthusiastic  and  ready 
service  everywhere.  On  our  return  our  first  attention  was 
given  to  our  dear  Chong  Dong  (city)  church,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  have  from  the  first  been  marked  as  ener- 
getic, generous  and  full  of  faith.  With  a  membership,  as 
has  been  said,  of  two  hundred  and  nineteen,  they  carry  on 
five  missions  near  the  city,  within  a  radius  of  five  miles. 
These  are  places  where  chapels  have  been  built — but  they 
have  also  several  other  missions  in  districts  where  services 


THE  CHONG  DONG  CHURCH        255 

are  held  in  private  dwellings.  The  church  members  con- 
duct and  take  charge  of  all  these  services.  They  have 
contributed  during  the  past  year  (1:902- 1903),  reckoned 
in  gold  dollars : 

For  their  school $75-8o 

Church  running  expenses 75-4° 

Evangelistic  work 45-82 

Charity  20.66 

Gifts  of  City  Mission  Society 5O-5O 


Total $268.18 

This  total,  however,  is  not  a  complete  report,  not  in- 
cluding the  gifts  of  the  largest  mission,  that  of  Chandari, 
a  (from  a  Korean  standpoint)  prosperous  little  farming 
community  outside  the  city.  For  the  women  and  girls, 
beside  Sabbath  services  and  regular  prayer  meetings,  six 
weekly  Bible  classes  are  held  in  different  neighborhoods, 
all  but  two  of  which  are  well  attended.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  these  women  well  fitted  for  Christian  teaching,  and 
one  or  another  of  them  has  repeatedly  gone  off  on  a  six- 
weeks'  trip,  with  some  of  the  lady  missionaries,  asking 
nothing  more  than  her  bare  expenses.  They  often  go 
away  on  evangelistic  trips  quite  at  their  own  instance, 
visiting  village  after  village,  distributing  tracts  which  they 
themselves  have  bought  for  the  purpose,  and  teaching  the 
country  women  who  cannot  read. 

Very  soon  after  our  return  to  Korea  my  husband  was 
requested  by  the  American  minister  and  the  members  of 
our  mission  to  visit  Hai  Ju,  in  the  province  of  Whang  Hai, 
on  a  mission  of  very  serious  importance.  We  were  sent  to 
Hai  Ju  in  February,  and  since  the  preceding  September,  it 
had  come  to  be  a  matter  of  common  report  that  the  native 
Romanists  (of  whom  there  are  said  to  be  twenty  thousand 


256      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

in  that  province)  had,  under  the  lead  of  the  French  priests, 
been  robbing,  torturing  and  blackmailing  the  poor  people 
of  the  province  "for  money  to  build  churches,"  resisting 
with  arms,  maiming,  beating  and  even  imprisoning  officers 
of  the  law  sent  to  stop  them,  and  establishing  a  veritable 
reign  of  terror  through  the  whole  district ;  so  that  the 
weaker  magistrates  dared  not  lift  a  finger  against  any 
criminal  favored  by  the  priests,  or  belonging  to  that 
church,  and  fairly  trembled  for  fear  of  them,  obeying  with 
the  alertness  of  terror  their  slightest  behest. 

The  state  of  affairs  grew  so  bad  at  length  that  the  gov- 
ernor sent  a  manifesto  to  Seoul,  saying  he  could  no  longer 
carry  on  the  government  of  the  province  in  such  a  state  of 
insurrection  and  anarchy.  The  following  is  a  translation, 
made  for  the  Korea  Review,  of  the  official  copy  of  a  part 
of  the  governor's  complaint : 

"In  the  counties  of  Sin-ch'un,  Cha-ryung,  An-ak, 
Chang-yun,  Pong-san,  Whang- ju,  and  Su-heung,  disturb- 
ances created  by  the  Roman  Catholics  are  many  in  num- 
ber, and  petitions  and  complaints  are  coming  in  from  all 
quarters. 

"In  some  cases  it  is  a  question  of  building  churches  and 
collecting  funds  from  the  villages  about.  If  any  refuse  to 
pay,  they  are  bound  and  beaten  and  rendered  helpless. 
When  certain  ones,  in  answer  to  petition,  have  been 
ordered  arrested,  the  police  have  been  mobbed  and  the  offi- 
cers of  the  law  have  been  unable  to  resist  it.  While  in- 
vestigating a  case  on  behalf  of  the  people,  I  sent  police  to 
arrest  Catholics  in  Cha-ryung.  They  raised  a  band  of  fol- 
lowers, beat  off  the  police,  arrested  them,  and  dismissed 
them  with  orders  not  to  return.  Then  I  sent  a  secretary. 
to  remonstrate  with  them.  At  that  the  Sin-ch'un  Catho- 
lics, a  score  or  more  of  them,  armed  with  guns,  arrested 
the  secretary,  insulted  him,  etc," 


TROUBLE   WITH   ROMANISTS  257 

One  of  the  priests,  who  is  apparently  most  influential 
and  has  been  most  notorious,  whose  Korean  name  is  Hong, 
and  who  is  known  among  foreigners  as  Father  Wilhelm, 
told  my  husband  that  the  native  Romanists  were  not  to  be 
blamed  for  all  this,  for  they  had  only  obeyed  his  orders. 
Mr.  Underwood  had  had  a  slight  acquaintance  with  this 
priest  for  some  years,  meeting  him  occasionally  and 
knowing  little  of  his  life,  but  supposing  he  was  doing  an 
earnest  if  mistaken  work  of  self-sacrifice,  he  was  unable  to 
believe  that  the  priest  was  cognizant  of  all  that  was  being 
done  by  his  followers,  until  he  had  both  written  and  had 
a  personal  interview  with  him,  when  he  was  sorrowfully 
forced  to  see  that  rumor  had  not  misrepresented  his  con- 
duct. 

This  sad  condition  of  things  might  have  gone  on,  no  one 
knows  how  long,  but  some  of  the  people  so  robbed  and  tor- 
tured were  Presbyterian  Christians,  and  there  is  some- 
thing about  Protestant  Christianity  that  resists  oppression 
and  favors  a  growth  of  sturdy  independence  and  a  love  of 
freedom  and  fair  play.  One  of  these  men  was  a  particu- 
larly determined  fellow  who  had  been  persistently  seeking 
justice  ever  since,  and  would  not  be  discouraged  or 
daunted.  He  first  went  to  the  missionaries,  who  told  him 
to  take  the  matter  to  the  Korean  courts,  but  as  the  pro- 
vincial courts  were  quite  helpless  against  such  a  giant  evil, 
he  went  up  to  the  capital.  The  officials  at  the  capital, 
probably  in  awe  of  the  French,  dared  not  interfere.  He 
and  his  companion,  another  sturdy  farmer  like  himself, 
went  from  one  missionary  to  another  in  Seoul,  all  of  whom 
put  them  off,  disliking  to  take  up  native  quarrels,  and  on 
principle  opposed  to  using  influence  with  Korean  officials, 
and  none  of  them  realizing  to  what  threatening  dimensions 
the  affair  had  grown. 

These  poor  men  were  not  eloquent,  they  could  only 


258      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

tell  a  plain,  simple  story,  but  they  knew  that  they  and 
thousands  of  others  were  deeply  wronged  and  were  able 
to  do  one  thing  well,  namely,  to  persist.  Persist  they  did 
with  unwearied  resolution. 

Failing  to  obtain  any  help  or  satisfaction,  they  at  length 
decided  to  go  directly  to  the  French  legation  and  seek 
justice  and  relief  there.  They  were  received,  attentively 
heard,  carefully  questioned,  given  a  promise  of  redress, 
and  sent  politely  away.  They  waited  long  and  patiently, 
but  no  redress  came,  nor  any  sign  of  it.  Again  and  again 
they  sought  the  fulfilment  of  the  promises  of  the  represen- 
tative of  France,  only  to  be  put  off  repeatedly  with  fair 
words  and  indefinite  assurances. 

So  at  length  they  published  their  whole  story  in  the 
leading  Korean  newspaper  in  Seoul.  Then  the  French 
minister  did  indeed  begin  to  act.  He  immediately  re- 
quested the  Korean  Foreign  Office  to  have  the  men  beaten 
and  imprisoned,  on  the  ground  that  conduct  like  theirs 
had  caused  the  Boxer  trouble  in  China. 

When  affairs  came  to  this  crisis,  the  Protestant  mission- 
aries awoke  to  the  situation.  Rev.  Mr.  Gale  and  Mr. 
Underwood  went  to  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  pled 
for  the  men,  and  also  laid  the  matter  before  the  American 
minister,  Dr.  Allen.  He  gave  it  his  careful  attention  and 
succeeded  in  having  a  commission  appointed  by  the  Ko- 
rean government  to  go  to  Hai  Ju  and  investigate  the 
charges.  Dr.  Moffett,  of  Pyeng  Yang,  and  Mr.  Under- 
wood were  also  requested  to  be  present  and  attend  the 
trials.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  this  attempt  to 
bring  the  truth  to  light,  the  French  priests  by  every  art  in 
their  power  tried  to  block  and  delay  the  proceedings  of  the 
judge,  to  annoy  and  overawe  him  in  Hai  Ju,  and  (we  were 
informed)  by  letters,  special  messengers  and  telegrams, 
to  limit  his  power,  hinder  his  plans,  and  undermine  him  in 
Seoul. 


THE   PRIEST'S   TACTICS  259 

He  was  a  sturdy,  clear-headed,  determined  man,  who 
had  had  long  intercourse  with  Europeans  in  his  post  in  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  held  his  own  with  much  self-posses- 
sion and  sang-froid.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  carried  on 
the  trials  more  fairly  and  more  in  accordance  with  equity 
than  had  ever  been  seen  before  in  Korea. 

The  priests  arrested  and  tortured  a  policeman  who  had 
been  sent  to  bring  some  of  the  accused  to  the  court, 
hanging  him  by  his  wrists.  They  used  all  the  influence 
they  possessed  in  Seoul,  through  the  French,  to  force  the 
Korean  government  to  order  the  commission  to  yield  to 
their  demands  for  the  release  of  prisoners  already  in  the 
hands  of  the  law,  and  for  the  remittance  of  punishment  as 
they  should  dictate. 

They  induced  the  commissioner  to  promise  that  he 
would  not  try  to  arrest  any  one  for  a  week,  on  the  solemn 
assurance  that  they  would  themselves  bring  all  the  ac- 
cused to  court,  and  then,  although  they  had  two  of  the 
most  notorious  malefactors  in  their  house  for  several  days 
before  the  week  expired,  they  allowed  them  to  escape. 

They  forced  themselves  into  the  commissioner's  pres- 
ence and  with  bluff  and  reiterated  demands  wearied  him 
into  sending  his  resignation  to  Seoul,  which,  however,  the 
king  refused  to  accept. 

"Father  Wilhelm's"  church  is  in  a  valley  about  ten  miles 
from  Hai  Ju,  entirely  surrounded  by  high  hills.  The  en- 
trance to  the  valley  at  that  time  was  guarded  by  sentinels, 
and  the  points  of  vantage  on  the  hill  tops  were  occupied 
in  the  same  way.  When  any  one  is  seen  approaching,  a 
signal  is  given,  and  the  people  (for  the  village  is  full  of 
fugitives  from  justice)  flee  into  the  church,  which  it  will 
be  seen  serves  the  triple  purpose  of  a  court  with  torture 
chamber,  a  citadel,  and  a  place  of  worship. 

When  police  were  sent  there  with  warrants  of  arrest  for 


260      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

some  of  the  worst  miscreants,  Father  Wilhelm  met  them 
at  the  door  with  a  revolver,  demanding  what  they  wanted. 
When  told,  he  requested  to  see  the  warrants,  denied  that 
any  such  persons  were  there,  would  not  allow  them  to 
enter,  nor  would  he  return  the  warrants,  but  with  threats 
bade  them  begone.  On  more  than  one  occasion  posses  of 
armed  men  were  sent  by  him  to  rescue  criminals  who  had 
been  seized. 

The  crudest  forms  of  torture,  such  as  are  used  only  by 
Korean  officials  in  cases  of  murder  and  treason,  were  used 
by  the  priests  in  their  churches  to  force  poor  peasants  to 
give  over  their  money  or  the  deeds  of  their  houses  and 
farms.  Mr.  Underwood  and  Dr.  Moffett  spent  some 
weeks  in  Hai  Ju,  carefully  studying  these  matters  and  in 
close  attendance  at  the  trials.  In  addition  to  the  above 
facts  they  discovered  that  this  was  not  a  persecution 
waged  upon  Protestants  by  Catholics,  but  a  system  of 
blackmail  laid  on  the  whole  community,  and  that  the  num- 
ber of  complaints  brought  in  by  non-Christian  natives 
were,  compared  to  those  from  Christians,  as  twenty  to  one. 
Again,  that  the  French  priests  were  (in  the  present  in- 
stance, at  least)  demanding,  as  in  China,  a  right  to  sit  with 
a  judge  in  a  court  of  justice  and  modify  sentences.  We 
learned  further  that  the  people  were  tormented  to  the 
verge  of  insurrection,  and  had  planned  to  rise  on  a  cer- 
tain day,  when  the  news  that  a  commission  had  been  ap- 
pointed, and  that  the  missionaries  had  come  down  to  see 
fair  play  at  the  investigations,  calmed  and  decided  them  to 
await  further  developments. 

The  results  of  the  trials  were  very  unsatisfactory.  With 
the  small  force  of  men  at  his  command,  with  the  priests 
foiling  every  effort  to  make  arrests,  few  men  were  appre- 
hended. Those  who  were  brought  to  trial,  by  their  own 
admissions  and  self-contradictions,  and  by  the  consistent 


THE   OFFICIAL   REPORT  261 

and  overwhelming  testimony  of  many  witnesses,  were  all 
proved  guilty  of  the  charges  laid  against  them.  The 
priests,  and  by  far  the  majority  of  the  miscreants,  includ- 
ing the  ringleaders,  who  could  not  be  caught,  went  scot 
free.  The  commissioner  made  a  report  to  the  Korean  gov- 
ernment, asking  for  the  deportation  of  the  two  priests, 
Wilhelm  and  Le  Gac,  which  the  Korean  government  did 
not  ask,  but  which  it  would  have  been  thought  should 
hardly  have  been  necessary.  Were  not  the  Koreans  long 
suffering  to  a  remarkable  degree,  as  well  as  a  feeble 
power,  they  would  long  since  have  risen  and  cast  out  all 
foreigners  from  their  desecrated  shores.  In  the  light  of 
what  we  have  seen  and  heard  here,  the  cause  of  the  Boxer 
troubles  in  China  is  not  far  to  seek.  Thus  is  national  senti- 
ment aroused  against  us ;  for  long  persistence  in  conduct 
similar  to  this  was  foreign  blood  spilled  like  water  there, 
and  for  such  reasons  are  the  gates  of  Thibet  barred  to  the 
gospel. 

The  following  official  report  of  the  interview  between 
the  priest  and  the  governor  of  Whang  Hai  province, 
in  the  presence  of  the  inspector  sent  by  the  king,  will  show 
what  a  state  of  affairs  existed. 

"Translation  of  the  official  report  of  the  interview  held 
between  the  governor  of  Whang  Hai  Do  and  Father  Wil- 
helm, in  the  presence  of  the  Inspector  Yi  Eung  Ik.  Eighth 
day  2d  Moon  Koang  Mu. 

"In  the  seventh  year  of  Quang  Mo  in  the  second  moon 
and  eighth  day,  the  governor  of  Whang  Hai  Do,  Yi  Yung 
Chick,  and  the  French  teacher,  Hong  Sok  Ku  (Mons. 
Wilhelm),  conferred.  Hong  Sok  Ku  said,  "The  contro- 
versy between  the  governor  and  myself  arose  from  the 
governor's  not  appeasing  my  wrath  by  arresting  Mr.  Pak 
Chang  Mou  of  Whang  Ju,  and  punishing  him.  This  Pak, 
at  night  after  dark,  had  thrown  stones  at  the  church  of 


262      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

Han  Sinpu  (a  native  Korean  priest),  and  I  therefore  had 
spoken  to  the  local  magistrate  of  Whang  Ju  and  asked  to 
have  him  arrested  and  imprisoned,  but  Pak,  through  his 
local  influence,  had  returned  undisturbed  to  his  home,  and 
as  there  seemed  no  other  means  of  having  him  punished,  I 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  governor,  asking  that  he  would  have 
Pak  brought  up  to  the  provincial  town  of  Hai  Ju  and 
severely  punished.  The  governor  replied  that  he  could 
not  have  the  people  of  local  magistracies  brought  up  to 
Hai  Ju,  and  I  therefore  supposed  that  the  governor  had 
no  power  to  arrest  the  people  of  outside  local  magistracies, 
and  when  I  learned  to  my  surprise  that  there  was  an  order 
for  the  arrest  of  some  of  the  Christians  (Romanist)  of 
Shinampo  by  the  governor,  feeling  sure  that  it  was  a  false 
order,  I  released  by  force  all  those  whom  the  police  were 
arresting,  and  at  once  ordered  all  my  Christians,  if  any 
one  came  out  to  arrest  them  again,  to  resist  it  utterly." 

The  governor  replied :  "As  for  the  business  of  Pak  of 
Whang  Ju,  since  he  had  been  already  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned in  Whang  Ju,  and  there  was  therefore  no  reason 
why  he  should  be  brought  up  to  Hai  Ju,  I  did  not  do  so  as 
you  had  asked,  and  as  for  my  reply  in  my  former  letter, 
that  I  could  not  arrest  him,  it  was  in  accordance  with  the 
Chibang  Cheido  (Book  of  Laws)  in  regard  to  local  and 
provincial  jurisdiction,  and  the  reason  why,  after1  my  peo- 
ple have  appealed,  I  can  order  them  arrested  to  try  the 
case,  is  in  accordance  with  the  Chaipan  Chang  Chung, 
or  book  of  rules  for  courts  of  justice,  and  if  you  had  any 
doubts  about  the  earlier  or  later  affair,  while  it  would  not 
have  been  out  of  the  way  to  have  asked  a  question,  is  it 
right  with  your  followers  to  gather  a  crowd  and  organ- 
ize a  band  to  arrest  and  carry  off  policemen,  to  release  and 
set  free  those  who  have  broken  the  laws,  and  to  order 
your  followers  to  resist  authority,  so  making  your  people 


THE    INTERVIEW  263 

fall  into  sin,  and  making  it  impossible  for  the  appointed 
authorities  to  administer  justice  ? 

"Desirous  of  instructing  these  ignorant  people,  I  sent 
one  of  the  Chusas  (high  official  next  to  the  governor)  at- 
tached to  this  governorship,  but  you  sent  out  a  company 
of  men  with  firearms,  twelve  miles,  and  after  dark  seized 
and  carried  off  this  official.  A  Chusa  is  a  national  govern- 
ment officer,  military  arms  are  outrageous  things ;  leaning 
upon  what  authority  did  you  do  such  things  as  these,  and 
by  whose  authority  do  you  arrest  and  carry  off  Koreans 
and  try  to  administer  justice?" 

Mons.  Wilhelm  replied:  "I  myself  know  that  these 
things  are  not  right,  and  did  them  purposely.  As  far  as 
the  book  Chaipan  Chang  Chung  is  concerned,  I  know 
nothing  about  it,  but  I  simply  relied  upon  the  previous 
letter  which  you  had  sent.  I  desired  to  understand  the 
matter,  and  sent  you  another  letter,  and  because  you  sent 
my  letter  back  to  me  I  still  feel  very  angry." 

The  governor  replied :  "But  your  saying  that  you  only 
recognized  my  first  letter  shows  you  simply  know  one 
thing  and  cannot  know  two ;  as  for  your  letter  and  my  re- 
turning it  without  an  answer,  it  was  because,  after  the  ar- 
rest of  my  Chusa,  I  had  sent  by  special  messenger  a  letter 
to  you,  and  you  had  given  no  answer  and  sent  the  man 
back  emptyhanded,  I  was  indignant.  As  I  had  no  reply 
to  my  letter  to  you  in  regard  to  the  Chang  Yung  affair, 
why  should  I  only  answer  letters?  Because  I  thought  it 
would  be  wrong  for  me  to  keep  your  letter  that  I  did  not 
answer,  I  returned  it." 

Father  Wilhelm  replied:  "Because  in  the  governor's 
last  letter  on  the  envelope  he  had  written  Saham  I  did  not 
answer  the  letter."  Saham  is  written  outside  of  letters 
which  are  replies  from  one  slightly  superior  in  rank. 

The  governor  replied :  "Is  it  right  to  allow  questions  to 


264      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

go  unanswered ;  is  it  because  you  have  nothing  to  say  that 
you  fail  to  answer  all  these  questions  ?" 

Father  Wilhelm  replied :  "When  Pak  Chang  Mou's 
wrong-doings  had  not  yet  been  punished,  is  it  right  that 
he  should  have  been  made  one  of  the  tax  collectors? 
When  you  have  arrested  and  brought  him  to  Hai  Ju  and 
severely  punished  him,  then  only  will  my  wrath  be  ap- 
peased." 

The  governor  then  said :  "In  the  eighth  moon  of  last 
year  when  I  went  to  Whang  Ju,  I  looked  carefully  into 
this  affair  of  Pak's.  Although  it  was  stated  that  he  had 
thrown  stones,  there  was  no  sure  proof,  and  yet  he  had 
been  locked  up  in  the  local  jail  and  had  been  punished, 
during  the  investigation,  how,  then,  can  you  say  that  he 
has  gone  unpunished?  How  can  you  claim  that  giving 
him  a  petty  office  several  months  later  is  an  injustice? 
Then,  too,  you  took  this  man  to  your  church  and  there 
beat  him,  and  still  claim  that  your  wrath  has  not  been  ap- 
peased. Would  you  have  me  arrest  him,  bring  him  here 
and  make  him  and  the  complainants  face  each  other?" 

Pere  Wilhelm  answered :  "Although  I  did  have  him 
beaten  with  ten  strokes,  it  was  not  a  punishment  for  his 
main  crime,  but  because  when  his  magistrate  sent  Pak  to 
confess  his  sins  he  was  on  the  contrary  impudent,  and 
therefore  I  punished  him,  but  his  former  offence  still  ex- 
isted." 

The  governor  replied :  "When  you  are  not  a  Korean 
official,  is  it  right  that  you  should  arrest  and  beat  Ko- 
reans ?" 

Father  Wilhelm  said:  "It  is  because  if  I  did  not  beat 
them  I  could  not  hold  my  position  as  superior  that  I  do  it." 

The  governor  answered  :  "You,  a  private  citizen,  arrest- 
ing and  beating  Koreans  and  doing  wrong,  and  your  writ- 
ten orders  to  your  people,  have  caused  them  to  break  the 


CHARGES    AGAINST    ROMANISTS  265 

laws  in  eight  different  ways.  They  resist  the  authority  of 
the  government,  beat  the  underlings,  and  refuse  to  pay 
their  taxes. 

"In  addition,  at  their  churches  and  meeting  places  they 
establish  courts  of  justice. 

"Still  further,  without  order,  in  companies  they  rush 
into  the  presence  of  magistrates  to  terrify  them. 

"Still  again,  of  their  own  accord  they  arrest,  beat  and 
imprison  the  people. 

"Again,  calling  it  money  for  the  building  of  churches, 
they  extort  contributions  by  force  from  the  people. 

"Furthermore,  at  their  own  desire  they  cut  down  trees 
used  for  Korean  spirit  worship,  they  organize  bands  to 
forcibly  bury  the  dead  and  move  graves ;  and  still  further, 
they  force  people,  who  have  no  desire  to  do  so,  to  enter 
their  church." 

Father  Wilhelm  replied:  "I  will  with  great  care  stop 
these  eight  offences  and  will  not  allow  them  to  do  as  be- 
fore ;  have  no  fear." 

Thus  ends  the  report  of  this  unique  interview  between 
the  governor  of  one  of  the  most  populous  provinces  of 
Korea  and  the  French  missionary.  It  is  to  be  regretted, 
however,  that  his  ready  promise  in  regard  to  nearly  all  the 
eight  offenses  was  repeatedly  broken  within  a  very  short 
time  after  it  was  made.  I  will  add  one  or  two  other  tran- 
scriptions from  the  official  documents,  which  came  directly 
from  the  commissioner's  office  to  our  hands,  and  which 
translations  appeared  in  the  Korea  Review,  March,  1903. 
The  first  report  of  the  imperial  inspector  to  the  govern- 
ment: 

"I  have  looked  carefully  into  the  disturbances  among 
the  people  in  the  different  counties,  and  the  various 
crimes  up  to  this  date  noted  in  the  public  records  are  only 
one  or  two  in  hundreds.  Outside  of  two  or  three  counties, 


266      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

all  the  magistrates  have  been  under  this  oppression,  and 
with  folded  hands,  are  unable  to  stir.  The  poor  helpless 
people  sit  waiting  for  doom  to  overtake  them.  Receiving 
imperial  orders  to  look  into  the  matter,  I  have  under- 
taken the  task,  and  daily  crowds  with  petitions  fill  the 
court.  There  are  no  words  to  express  the  sights  one  sees, 
the  stories  one  hears.  Depending  on  the  influence  of  for- 
eigners (French),  the  Catholics'  issuing  of  orders  to  ar- 
rest is  of  daily  occurrence ;  their  runners  are  fiercer  than 
leopards,  and  the  torture  they  inflict  is  that  reserved 
for  only  thieves  and  robbers ;  life  is  ground  out  of  the 
people,  goods  and  livelihood  are  gone.  Unless  this  kind 
of  thing  is  put  down  with  strong  hand,  thousands  of  lives 
will  be  lost  in  the  end. 

"A  French  priest  by  the  name  of  Wilhelm,  living  in 
Chang-ke-dong  in  Sin-ch-un,  a  retired  spot  among  the 
hills,  has  gathered  about  him  a  mob  of  lawless  people. 
Their  houses  number  several  hundred.  Many  of  them 
carry  foreign  guns,  so  that  country  people  are  afraid,  and 
dare  not  take  action.  A  number  of  those  already  arrested 
have  been  set  free  by  this  priest.  Most  of  those  who  have 
slipped  the  net  have  escaped  there,  and  now  form  a  band 
of  robbers.  There  is  no  knowing  where  trouble  will  next 
arise,  and  it  is  a  time  of  special  anxiety.  Those  who 
assemble  there  at  the  'call  of  the  whistle'  (bandit)  are 
outlaws,  and  must  be  arrested.  They  may,  however,  make 
use  of  dangerous  weapons,  so  we  cannot  do  otherwise 
than  be  prepared  for  them.  This  is  my  report.  Look  care- 
fully into  it.  Send  word  to  the  office  of  generals.  Wire 
me  permission  to  use  soldiers,  and  as  occasion  offers  lend 
me  a  helping  hand." 

While  this  painful  business  was  on,  and  my  husband 
was  daily  attending  the  trials  and  listening  to  the  harrow- 
ing tales  of  the  poor,  tortured  and  robbed  people,  and  see- 


A   DEVOTED   WORKER  267 

ing  heartrending  evidences  of  the  cruelties  inflicted  upon 
them,  I  was  holding  meetings  with  the  Christian  women 
who  came  every  morning  to  study  the  Bible.  One  visit 
only  was  made  to  a  small  village  a  short  distance  outside 
the  city,  where  there  were  quite  a  number  of  Christian 
families. 

All  the  Christian  women  quickly  assembled  at  the  house 
of  my  hostess,  a  wholesome  farmer's  wife,  who  came  out 
to  the  road  to  welcome  me,  took  both  my  hands  in  hers 
with  a  long  gentle  pressure,  and  a  look  of  gladness  as 
bright  as  if  I  had  been  a  radiant  angel  from  heaven,  or  a 
returned  apostle.  Her  small  rooms  were  soon  filled  with 
Christians  and  others,  who  listened  while  we  held  a  ser- 
vice and  talked  of  the  things  concerning  the  kingdom. 

Then  they,  with  bounteous  hospitality,  brought  in  a 
store  of  the  best  their  homes  contained  of  dainties.  They 
feasted  my  two  native  companions  and  myself  and  all  the 
visitors,  both  Christians  and  mere  sightseers,  and  even  my 
chair  coolies  were  given  as  much  as  they  could  eat,  which 
is  no  mean  amount. 

One  woman  said  that  her  eldest  son  had  just  returned 
from  Sorai  and  was  urging  his  father  to  sell  his  good 
farm  and  home  and  move  there  with  his  family,  so  that  he 
and  his  brothers  might  attend  that  school  and  church  and 
learn  more  about  God  and  his  will. 

The  work  in  this  hamlet  all  started  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  a  young  girl  in  Hai  Ju,  not  seventeen 
years  old,  who,  having  formerly  lived  here,  after  her  mar- 
riage into  a  Christian  household  in  the  city,  and  after  her 
conversion,  often  returned  to  her  old  home  and  begged  her 
family  to  believe  and  accept  Christ. 

Though  they  scoffed  and  reviled  at  first,  after  a  while 
they  began  to  listen,  and  finally  one,  then  another,  yielded 
their  hearts.  After  the  manner  of  Korean  Christians, 


268      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

they  "passed  on  the  word,"  and  so  at  length  seven  families 
were  trusting  Christ. 

After  seven  weeks  in  Hai  Ju  we  returned  to  Seoul, 
having  done  all  that  was  possible  in  the  matters  we  had 
been  sent  there  to  look  after,  and  having  made  it  plain  that 
Americans  would  not  stand  by  and  see  the  natives  perse- 
cuted and  wronged  without  a  strong  protest ;  for  while  we 
try  not  to  interfere  between  them  and  their  rulers  (and  this 
is  at  times  extremely  difficult),  we  do  not  feel  the  same 
obligation  in  the  case  of  French  priests.  Our  hope  now  is 
that  these  outrages  will  henceforth  be  somewhat  restricted 
and  that  Protestants  will  at  least  remain  unmolested,  as 
the  mere  advertisement  and  bringing  to  the  light  of  the 
evil  would  do  much  to  prevent  its  repetition,  the  children 
of  darkness  having  an  ancient  dislike  of  the  light. 

Before  we  returned  from  Hai  Ju  we  learned  of  the 
death  by  smallpox  of  our  dear  brother,  Mr.  W.  V.  John- 
son, who  had  arrived  early  in  February  of  that  year,  his 
consecrated  young  wife  having  died  on  the  way  to  the 
field,  in  Kobe,  Japan. 

We  all  felt  the  sweet  devoted  spirit  of  the  earnest  young 
brother,  and  knew  that  these  two  valuable  lives  were  not 
given  in  vain,  but  that  God  has  accepted  their  sacrifice 
as  if  they  had  done  all  they  planned,  and  has  chosen  to 
call  them  to  reward  a  little  earlier,  because  they  will  better 
so  fulfil  his  purpose,  for,  through  and  in  them.  Again, 
only  a  few  months  later,  we  were  all  called  to  part  with 
a  dear  sister,  Mrs.  F.  S.  Miller,  whose  loving  sympathy 
and  patient  endurance  of  sickness  and  pain  had  endeared 
her  to  missionaries  and  native  Christians  alike.  Not  a 
month  before  her  own  death,  her  hands  prepared  the 
casket  for  the  cold  little  form  of  one  of  the  dear  little  mis- 
sionary babies,  of  whom  so  many  are  now  in  heaven.  And 
so,  as  was  said  at  the  time  of  her  release,  "Korea  seems  a 


GREAT   OPPORTUNITIES  269 

gate  to  heaven."  Sure  it  is  good  to  go  from  service  to  the 
vision  of  the  King. 

This  little  chain  of  reminiscences  is  now  at  an  end.  Its 
object  has  simply  been  to  interest  Christian  people  in  this 
most  interesting  country,  and  to  show  what  God  is  work- 
ing here. 

It  has  been  necessarily  limited,  mainly  to  the  experience 
of  one  pair  of  missionaries,  because  the  writer  has  neither 
the  knowledge  nor  the  liberty  to  speak  freely  of  the  lives 
and  work  of  all,  and  neither  the  ability  nor  the  space  to 
write  a  complete  history  of  mission  work  in  Korea.  It  is 
hoped  that  although  so  restricted,  as  to  be  a  mere  glimpse 
of  a  small  fraction  of  what  is  being  done,  it  will  serve  to 
make  plain  what  grand  opportunities  are  theirs  (at 
present)  who  would  lead  a  nation  out  of  bondage  into 
liberty,  the  only  liberty  worth  calling  the  name,  or  that 
sinful  mortals  can  use,  "the  liberty  of  Christ." 

Korea,  lying  as  she  does  so  close  to  China  (whose 
future  is  fraught  with  such  mighty  possibilities  of  good 
or  evil  to  the  whole  world),  with  such  close  affinities  and 
wide  sympathies  for  that  people,  is,  we  hope,  to  be  a 
polished  shaft  in  God's  quiver  in  conquering  that  great 
nation  for  his  kingdom.  But  whatever  his  eternal  purpose 
may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  our  present  privilege  and 
"power  to  the  last  particle  is  duty." 

If  in  these  pages  you  have  seen  much  that  leads  you  to 
think  the  land  is  a  difficult  one  in  which  to  live,  if  you 
have  read  of  political  unrest,  bad  government,  riots,  rob- 
bers and  plagues;  if  you  have  learned  that  missionaries 
have  died  of  typhus  fever,  smallpox,  dysentery  and  other 
violent  forms  of  disease,  this  will  only  serve  to  remind  you 
that  the  more  valuable  the  prize  to  be  won,  the  greater  the 
difficulty  and  cost.  If  you  desire  to  share  in  the  joy  of  this 
great  harvest,  and  are  worthy,  you  will  fear  no  danger, 


270      FIFTEEN  YEARS  AMONG  THE  TOP-KNOTS 

shrink  from  no  obstacles,  either  for  yourselves  or  for  your 
loved  ones,  whom  you  are  asked  to  give  to  the  work. 

God  placed  an  angel  with  a  flaming  sword  which  turned 
every  way  at  the  gate  of  paradise.  Is  the  kingdom  still 
thus  guarded?  Must  we  all  who  would  enter  follow  him 
who  was  made  perfect  through  suffering  ?  What  was  our 
Lord's  meaning  when  he  said,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven 
suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force."  Some 
of  us  are  ready  to  pray  that  God  would  place  another  such 
flaming  sword  at  the  gate  of  our  mission  fields,  so  that  no 
man  or  woman  who  could  or  would  not  brave  such  bap- 
tism of  fire  should  enter.  There  is  no  more  place  on  the 
mission  field  for  the  fearful  and  unbelieving  than  in 
heaven  itself.  Like  Gideon's  army,  let  the  applicants  be  re- 
duced till  only  the  resolute,  the  consecrated,  those  who  be- 
lieve in  God,  the  people  and  themselves,  are  accepted  for 
this  mighty  privilege,  this  high  calling. 

Let  it  only  be  remembered  by  all  who  would  enter  the 
Lord's  army  to  wrest  the  kingdom  of  heaven  from  the 
rulers  of  darkness,  that  he,  whose  we  are,  and  whom  we 
serve,  he  who  never  faltered  on  the  thorny  road  that  led  to 
Calvary,  who  trod  the  wine  press  alone,  who  came  with 
dyed  garments  through  the  conflict  to  victory,  has  bidden 
those  who  profess  to  love  him,  as  one  of  his  last  com- 
mands, thrice  repeated,  feed  his  sheep. 

"Lovest  them  me?  Feed  my  sheep." 
"Lovest  them  me?  Feed  my  sheep." 
"Lovest  them  me?  Feed  my  lambs." 

I. 

Oh,  never  swear  them  lovest  me, 

Who  lovest  not  my  sheep ; 
For  he  who  would  my  servant  be 

My  treasured  flock  will  keep. 


THE    END  271 

II. 
Oh,  never  vow  thou  lovest  me, 

As  follower  leal  and  true, 
Who  shrinkest  in  my  paths  to  be, 

Or  fearest  my  will  to  do. 

III. 
Oh,  never  weep  thou  lovest  me, 

My  lambs  who  feedest  not; 
Who  wouldst  my  crowning  glory  see, 

But  hast  the  cross  forgot? 

IV. 
Nay,  if  thou  lovest,  feed  my  sheep, 

On  desert  moors  astray; 
The  charge  I  gave  thee  surely  keep, 

Until  the  final   day. 

V. 

Yea,  if  thou  lovest  me,  thy  Lord, 

My  feeble  lambs  feed  thou ; 
They  wander  o'er  the  world  abroad, 

Many  lie  fainting  now. 

VI. 
Then  never  swear  thou  lovest  me, 

Who  loves  not  these  of  mine; 
Who  would  my  true  disciple  be, 

Shall  prove  his  love  divine. 


THE    END. 


JOHN  MARK; 

OR,  

The  Making  of  a  Saint 

By   Ret.  JAMES  D.    HUNTER,    D.D. 

Cloth,  J2mo.  H3  Pages.  75  cents  Postpaid 

PERSONAL     TESTIMONIES 

REV.  J.  ADDISON  HENRY,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia.—"  Of  great  use 
to  pastors  as  a  book  to  hand  to  church  members  and  others." 

REV.  SHERMAN  H.  DOYLE,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia.—"  Most  origi- 
nal in  conception  and  execution,  and  intensely  interesting 
throughout." 

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delphia.—"  A  very  fetching  little  book.  It  should  have  a  wide 
sale  among  the  various  organizations  of  Christian  young  people. 
An  admirable  and  striking  piece  of  work." 

REV.  CHARLES  ROADS,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  M.  E.  Sunday-School 
Work.—"  A  fine  Bible  study,  richly  suggestive,  intellectually 
stimulating,  and  spiritually  helpful/' 

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able for  present-day  instruction  and  inspiration." 

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adapted  to  the  needs  of  young  Christians." 

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Under  Twelve  Flags 

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In  this  book  is  gathered  together  eighteen  sketches 
from  the  pen  of  that  interesting  story-writer,  Miss 
Annette  L.  Noble.  As  a  rule,  the  characters  in  these 
stories  are  young  people,  but  they  are  in  no  sense 
childish.  They  represent  life  in  twelve  different  countries, 
and  give  no  little  insight  into  national  customs  and 
characteristics.  The  opening  sketch,  "  Elise,  the  Hugue- 
not Maid,"  is  peculiarly  well  told  and  intensely  interest- 
ing. Among  the  chapter  titles  are  to  be  found  such  as 
"  Twin  Laplanders,"  "A  Street  Singer  of  Italy,"  "A 
Little  Dutch  Sister,"  "A  Norwegian  Investment,"  "A 
Japanese  Lily,"  etc. 

In  eacl}  one  of  these  stories  will  be  found  a  well-marked 
vein  of  Christian  truth,  and  while  each  of  the  eighteen  is 
an  independent  story,  the  reader  will  doubtless  not  be 
content  until  the  whole  volume  has  been  read. 

"The  author  has  extraordinary  talent  for  story-telling 
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of  movement  holds  the  attention  of  readers  from  start  to 
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THE  ROD  THAT 

BUDDED     Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  MILLER 

12mo.  210  Pages.  Goth,  $1.25  Postpaid 


"Very  richin  the  study  of  scripture." — Christian  Observer. 

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"  No  one  can  read  the  book  without  being  made  more 
spiritual." —  The  Gospel  Messenger. 

"Dr.  Miller  has  the  power  of  presenting  old  truth  in 
fresh  and  attractive  forms.  .  .  .  The  work  is  written 
in  a  graceful  style  throughout  and  many  beautiful  pas- 
sages are  found  upon  its  pages." — Presbyterian  Banner. 

"  Well  written,  and  the  interest  is  sustained  to  the  end." 
—  Westminster  Teacher. 

"A  substantial,  practical  presentation  of  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  many  points  of  view.  .  .  .  With  his 
varied  reading,  extensive  travel  and  gift  of  putting  things 
tersely  and  plainly,  together  with  his  rich  fund  of  illus- 
tration, he  has  produced  a  book  that  will  be  read  with 
profit." —  United  Presbyterian. 

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of  God  to  man  and  bearing  many  a  consoling  message." 
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CHRIST 

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Rev.     Dr.     Theodore     L.     Cuyler 

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"A  collection  of  some  twenty-four  papers,  showing  the 
spirit  of  earnest  evangelism,  the  wholesome  philosophy 
and  beautiful  Christian  faith  and  simplicity,  which  have 
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Guardian. 

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and  a  pulpit  orator." — Minneapolis  Journal. 

"Topics  of  practical  bearing  to  every  Christian." — 
Cumberland  Presbyterian. 

"  There  are  twenty-four  selected  articles  all  neatly 
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in  the  faith." — Christian  Intelligencer. 

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and  Christian  World. 

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Journeying  in  the  Land 
Where  Jesus  Lived 

By 

Gerard    B.    F.    HallocK,    D.D. 

Brich    Presbyterian    Church 
Rochester,    N.    Y. 

SVo.        289  pages.        30  full-page  illustrations. 
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•'  Dr.  Hallock  combines  a  wealth  of  historical  and  biblical 
knowledge,  and  is  especially  helpful  in  the  aid  he  gives  to  the 
understanding  of  Old  and  New  Testament  scenes  and  passages." 
—  The  Christian  Guardian,  Toronto. 

"The  story  of  Dr.  Hallock's  journeying  is  graphically  told." — 
The  United  Presbyterian. 

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Advocate. 

"  A  striking  combination  of  description  and  historical  study, 
intensely  interesting  throughout." — Democrat  and  Chronicle. 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 

"Unique  in  its  presentation  of  life  and  scenes  in  the  Holy 
Land." — Christian  Observer. 

"  The  simplicity  of  the  style,  the  clearness  of  description,  the 
fulness  of  information,  and  the  exceeding  beauty  of  the  illustra- 
tions, will  enable  one  to  see  the  land  almost  as  distinctly  as  the 
writer  saw  ix..""— Baptist  Teacher. 

"Apparently  nothing  connected  with  the  life  of  the  Lord 
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PIONEER  MISSIONARIES 
OF  THE  CHURCH 

By   Rev.  C.    C.  CREEGAN,  D.D. 

With  Introductory  Note  by  Mr.  Harlan 
P.  Beach,  Educational  Secretary 
Student  Volunteer  Movement 

I2mo.    Cloth,  334  pages.    18  full-page  portraits.    $1.25  postpaid 

This  is  one  of  the  strong  missionary  books  of  the  year. 

For  mission  study  classes  wishing  to  study  missionaries  and 
their  methods,  this  is  a  model  volume.  Dr.  Creegan,  by  virtue 
of  his  own  relation  to  missions  and  missionary  workers,  is 
peculiarly  qualified  to  produce  such  a  volume. 

MR.    ROBERT    E.    SPEER 

Secretary  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  says: 
"  Dr.  Creegan  has  combined  with  much  success  in  these  sketches 
vivid  personal  detail  with  large  perceptions  of  the  place  of  these 
pioneer  missionaries  in  the  work  of  the  world  and  the  progress 
of  the  Church.  There  is  no  more  fascinating  literature  than  mis- 
sionary biography,  and  this  volume  is  made  up  of  twenty-six  such 
biographies,  in  each  of  which  the  essential  facts  and  achievements 
and  characteristics  are  skilfully  condensed  and  presented  with 
•warm  sympathy  and  glowing  earnestness." 

DR.     JOSIAH    STRONG 

Author 0/"Our  Country,"  writes:  "With  modern  facilities  for 
communication  and  the  spread  of  Christian  missions,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  pioneering  is  rapidly  passing.  When  Schwartz  sailed 
for  India  and  Morrison  for  China,  it  was  almost  like  taking 
passage  for  another  planet.  It  is  impossible  for  the  missionary 
of  to-day  to  be  so  banished  from  the  world  as  were  the  pioneer 
missionaries  of  an  earlier  generation.  The  splendid  heroism  of 
the  men  whose  stories  are  told  in  Dr.  Creegan's  last  book  is  good 
fuel  with  which  to  kindle  and  keep  alive  the  missionary  enthu- 
siasm which  is  as  necessary  now  as  ever. 

"  The  writer  has  selected  his  characters  with  discrimination, 
and  has  handled  his  materials  effectively.  The  book  should  have 
a  wide  reading,  especially  among  the  Student  Volunteers,  to 
whom  it  is  inscribed." 

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